2000 Fiscal Year Final Research Report Summary

Searching Production sites of amyloid β protein : Special attention to RAFT

Research Project

Project/Area Number	11670609
Research Category	Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
Allocation Type	Single-year Grants
Section	一般
Research Field	Neurology
Research Institution	University of Tokyo
Principal Investigator	YAMAZAKI Tsuneo University of Tokyo, Graduate School of Medicine, Assistant professor, 大学院・医学系研究科, 助手 (80200658)
Project Period (FY)	1999 – 2000
Keywords	Alzheimer's disease / Amyloid β protein / RAFT
Research Abstract	One of the hallmarks of Alzheimer's disease pathologies is the deposition of amyloid β protein (Aβ) in brains. While the Aβ deposition is predicted to be the cause of the disease, its intracellular production sites have been unknown. I hypothesized that detergent insoluble membrane RAFT might be one of the sites, and checked this possibility using human brains. After homogenization in the presence of 1% Triton X-100 at 4℃, specimens were ultra-centrifuged using sucrose gradients, and the resultant 5 fractions were analyzed by western blotting. The RAFT marker protein resided in the fraction 2 and Aβ was also detected in that fraction. Some Aβ was also recovered in the pellet fraction, thus considered to be aggregated. Interestingly, more Aβ42 was found in both fractions that Aβ40. These findings suggest that the RAFT fraction of brains might be a Aβ localization site.