Biophysical characterization data on Aβ soluble oligomers produced through a method enabling prolonged oligomer stability and biological buffer conditions.

The data here consists of time-dependent experimental parameters from chemical and biophysical methods used to characterize Aβ monomeric reactants as well as soluble oligomer and amyloid fibril products from a slow (3-4 week) assembly reaction under biologically-relevant solvent conditions. The data of this reaction are both of a qualitative and quantitative nature, including gel images from chemical cross-linking and Western blots, fractional solubility, thioflavin T binding, size exclusion chromatograms, transmission electron microscopy images, circular dichroism spectra, and fluorescence resonance energy transfer efficiencies of donor-acceptor pair labels in the Aβ chain. This data enables future efforts to produce the initial monomer and eventual soluble oligomer and amyloid fibril states by providing reference benchmarks of these states pertaining to physical properties (solubility), ligand-binding (thioflavin T binding), mesoscopic structure (electron microscopy, size exclusion chromatography, cross-linking products, SDS and native gels) and molecular structure (circular dichroism, FRET donor-acceptor distance).

Kinetic analysis of IgG antibodies to beta-amyloid oligomers with surface plasmon resonance.

Surface plasmon resonance was used to investigate the kinetics, affinity, and specificity of binding between anti-Aβ (beta-amyloid) IgG antibodies and oligomeric Aβ. Two factors were needed to accurately characterize the IgG binding kinetics. First, a bivalent model was necessary to properly fit the kinetic association and dissociation sensograms.

Effects of external beam radiation on in vitro formation of Abeta1-42 fibrils and preformed fibrils.

Plaques containing fibrillar amyloid-beta (Abeta) are a characteristic finding in Alzheimer's disease. Although plaque counts correlate poorly with the extent of cognitive deficits in this disorder, fibrillar Abeta can promote neuronal damage through a variety of mechanisms. External beam radiotherapy has been reported to be an effective treatment for tracheobronchial amyloidosis, in which amyloid is deposited as submucosal plaques and tumor-like masses in the trachea and/or bronchi.

An accurate model of polyglutamine.

Polyglutamine repeats in proteins are highly correlated with amyloid formation and neurological disease. To better understand the molecular basis of glutamine repeat diseases, structural analysis of polyglutamine peptides as soluble monomers, oligomers, and insoluble amyloid fibrils is necessary. In this study, fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) experiments and molecular dynamics simulations using different theoretical models of polyglutamine were conducted.

Conformations within soluble oligomers and insoluble aggregates revealed by resonance energy transfer.

A fluorescently labeled 20-residue polyglutamic acid (polyE) peptide 20 amino acid length polyglutamic acid (E(20)) was used to study structural changes which occur in E(20) as it co-aggregates with other unlabeled polyE peptides. Resonance energy transfer (RET) was performed using an o-aminobenzamide donor at the N-terminus and 3-nitrotyrosine acceptor at the C-terminus of E(20). PolyE aggregates were not defined as amyloid, as they were nonfibrillar and did not bind congo red.

Antibody concentrations to Abeta1-42 monomer and soluble oligomers in untreated and antibody-antigen-dissociated intravenous immunoglobulin preparations.

Cognitive improvement in Alzheimer's disease (AD) patients treated with intravenous immunoglobulin (IvIg) has been attributed to its antibodies to amyloid beta (Abeta). We compared the concentrations of specific antibodies to soluble Abeta1-42 conformations, namely Abeta1-42 monomer and Abeta1-42 soluble oligomers, between three IvIg preparations, Gamunex, Gammagard, and Flebogamma. To determine specific antibody concentrations to these Abeta1-42 conformations, nonspecific binding of the IvIg preparations to the Abeta reverse sequence, Abeta42-1, was subtracted.