New Clues Illuminate Alzheimer’s Roots

July 31, 2013 — - Scientists at the University of Miami (UM) and Rice University have figured out how synthetic molecules designed at Rice latch onto the amyloid peptide fibrils thought to be responsible for Alzheimer's disease. Their discovery could point the way toward therapies to halt or even reverse the insidious disease. The metallic dipyridophenazine ruthenium complex can strongly bind to pockets created when fibrils form from misfolded amyloid beta proteins that cells fail to destroy. When excited under a spectroscope, the molecules luminesce, which indicates the presence of the fibrils. That much was known by Rice researchers, but until now the process was a mystery. By combining their talents in biophysics (at Rice) and computer simulation (at UM), researchers pinpointed four such pockets along the fibril where the hydrophobic (water-averse) molecules can bind. They believe their work will help chemists design molecules to keep the fibrils from forming the plaques found in Alzheimer's patients.