Oregon State University scientists report they have monitored, second by second, how copper ions promote aggregation of amyloid-beta—an Alzheimer’s-associated protein—and how different metal-binding molecules can disrupt or reverse that clumping, using a fluorescence anisotropy approach described in a study published in ACS Omega.
Researchers at Oregon State University say they have captured real-time details of a chemical process associated with Alzheimer’s disease by tracking how copper ions interact with amyloid-beta, a protein fragment widely studied for its role in Alzheimer’s pathology.
In a study published in ACS Omega, the team—led by Oregon State chemist Marilyn Rampersad Mackiewicz—used a technique called fluorescence anisotropy to monitor copper-triggered amyloid aggregation as it happened rather than measuring only the end state. The approach, they reported, allowed them to quantify how quickly aggregation formed and how it changed when different metal-binding compounds were introduced.
The paper compared two types of chelators: EDTA, described in the report as a broadly acting, non-selective metal chelator, and Ni-Bme-Dach, a compound the researchers describe as more selective for copper in this experimental context. The team reported that Ni-Bme-Dach showed the ability to disrupt or reverse copper-associated amyloid aggregation under their test conditions.
Mackiewicz said the real-time measurements help shift the focus from simply asking whether a compound affects aggregation to examining when and how it does so. The work was carried out with undergraduate co-authors Alyssa N. Schroeder (Oregon State) and Eleanor K. Adams, Dane C. Frost, Erica Lopez, and Jennie R. Giacomini (Portland State University), according to the journal record.
The Oregon State news release said the project involved support from the university’s SURE Science Program and private donors Julie and William Reiersgaard.
The researchers emphasized that the findings describe a molecular-level measurement approach and results in a controlled experimental system, and said further testing in more biologically complex settings would be a logical next step.
