Budget Amount *help |
¥4,810,000 (Direct Cost: ¥3,700,000、Indirect Cost: ¥1,110,000)
Fiscal Year 2016: ¥1,690,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,300,000、Indirect Cost: ¥390,000)
Fiscal Year 2015: ¥1,560,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,200,000、Indirect Cost: ¥360,000)
Fiscal Year 2014: ¥1,560,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,200,000、Indirect Cost: ¥360,000)
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Outline of Final Research Achievements |
Aggregation of amyloid β-protein (Aβ) into insoluble amyloid fibrils is implicated in Alzheimer's disease (AD). The elucidation of the structural features and assembly kinetics of Aβ has been an area of intense study. We performed high-speed atomic force microscopy (HS-AFM) studies of fibril formation and elongation by Aβ1-42. Our data demonstrate two different growth modes of Aβ1-42, one producing straight fibrils and the other producing spiral fibrils. Each mode depends on initial fibril nucleus structure, but switching from one growth mode to another was occasionally observed, suggesting that fibril end structure fluctuated between the two growth modes. This switching phenomenon was affected by buffer salt composition. Our findings indicate that polymorphism in fibril structure can occur after fibril nucleation and is affected by relatively modest changes in environmental conditions.
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