Amyloid-beta antibody treatment leads to rapid normalization of plaque-induced neuritic alterations.

The accumulation of amyloid-beta into insoluble plaques is a characteristic feature of Alzheimer's disease. Neuronal morphology is distorted by plaques: rather than being essentially straight, they are substantially more curved than those in control tissue, their trajectories become altered, and they are frequently distended or swollen, presumably affecting synaptic transmission. Clearance of plaques by administration of antibodies to amyloid-beta is a promising therapeutic approach to the treatment of Alzheimer's disease, leading to stabilization of dementia by an unknown cellular mechanism.

In vivo imaging of reactive oxygen species specifically associated with thioflavine S-positive amyloid plaques by multiphoton microscopy.

Amyloid-beta, the primary constituent of senile plaques in Alzheimer's disease, is hypothesized to cause neuronal damage and cognitive failure, but the mechanisms are unknown. Using multiphoton imaging, we show a direct association between amyloid-beta deposits and free radical production in vivo in live, transgenic mouse models of Alzheimer's disease and in analogous ex vivo experiments in human Alzheimer tissue. We applied two fluorogenic compounds, which become fluorescent only after oxidation, before imaging with a near infrared laser.

Imaging Abeta plaques in living transgenic mice with multiphoton microscopy and methoxy-X04, a systemically administered Congo red derivative.

The identification of amyloid deposits in living Alzheimer disease (AD) patients is important for both early diagnosis and for monitoring the efficacy of newly developed anti-amyloid therapies. Methoxy-X04 is a derivative of Congo red and Chrysamine-G that contains no acid groups and is therefore smaller and much more lipophilic than Congo red or Chrysamine-G. Methoxy-X04 retains in vitro binding affinity for amyloid beta (Abeta) fibrils (Ki = 26.

Non-Fc-mediated mechanisms are involved in clearance of amyloid-beta in vivo by immunotherapy.

Transgenic (Tg) mouse models overexpressing amyloid precursor protein (APP) develop senile plaques similar to those found in Alzheimer's disease in an age-dependent manner. Recent reports demonstrated that immunotherapy is effective at preventing or removing amyloid-beta deposits in the mouse models. To characterize the mechanisms involved in clearance, we used antibodies of either IgG1 (10d5) or IgG2b (3d6) applied directly to the brains of 18-month-old Tg2576 or 20-month-old PDAPP mice.

A lipophilic thioflavin-T derivative for positron emission tomography (PET) imaging of amyloid in brain.

The synthesis of a new lipophilic thioflavin-T analogue (2-[4' -(methylamino)phenyl]benzothiazole, 6) with high affinity for amyloid is reported. Intravenous injection of [(11)C]-labeled 6 in control mice resulted in high brain uptake. Amyloid deposits were imaged with multiphoton microscopy in the brains of living transgenic mice following the systemic injection of unlabeled 6.