The emerging role of disease-associated microglia in Parkinson's disease.

Disease-associated microglia (DAM) are a subset of microglia that appear at various stages of central nervous system neurodegenerative diseases. DAM were identified using single-cell RNA sequencing within Alzheimer's Disease (AD) where they were characterized by their unique localization near amyloid-β plaques and their phagocytic and lipid-metabolizing features. Unfortunately, activation and etiology of DAM are only understood within the context of AD where Triggering Receptor Expressed On Myeloid Cells 2 (TREM2), a receptor for amyloid-β, appears to be the key regulator in microglial transition to a DAM state.

Helical pores self-assembled from homochiral dendritic dipeptides based on L-Tyr and nonpolar alpha-amino acids.

The synthesis of dendritic dipeptides (4-3,4-3,5)12G2-CH2-Boc-L-Tyr-X-OMe where X = Gly, L-Val, L-Leu, L-Ile, L-Phe, and L-Pro is reported. Their self-assembly in bulk and in solution and the structural and retrostructural analysis of their periodic assemblies were compared to those of the previously reported and currently reinvestigated dendritic dipeptides with X = L-Ala. All dendritic dipeptides containing as X nonpolar alpha-amino acids self-assemble into helical porous columns.