• BMB Reports
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• 제42권9호
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• pp.541-551
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• 2009

Amyloidogenesis defines a condition in which a soluble and innocuous protein turns to insoluble protein aggregates known as amyloid fibrils. This protein suprastructure derived via chemically specific molecular self-assembly process has been commonly observed in various neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, and Prion diseases. Although the major culprit for the cellular degeneration in the diseases remains unsettled, amyloidogenesis is considered to be etiologically involved. Recent recognition of fibrillar polymorphism observed mostly from in vitro amyloidogeneses may indicate that multiple mechanisms for the amyloid fibril formation would be operated. Nucleation-dependent fibrillation is the prevalent model for assessing the self-assembly process. Following thermodynamically unfavorable seed formation, monomeric polypeptides bind to the seeds by exerting structural adjustments to the template, which leads to accelerated amyloid fibril formation. In this review, we propose another in vitro model of amyloidogenesis named double-concerted fibrillation. Here, two consecutive assembly processes of monomers and subsequent oligomeric species are responsible for the amyloid fibril formation of $\alpha$-synuclein, a pathological component of Parkinson's disease, following structural rearrangement within the oligomers which then act as a growing unit for the fibrillation.

• 동의생리병리학회지
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• 제28권3호
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• pp.317-321
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• 2014

Amyloid-${\beta}$ protein ($A{\beta}$) is a pathological component of Alzheimer's disease (AD) by participating in the senile plaque formation in the patient's brain. Although the exact mechanism of $A{\beta}$ toxicity is not fully elucidated, it is considered to be closely related to its fibrillation process. For prevention of AD, recent studies have suggested various small molecules which inhibit $A{\beta}$ fibrillation. In this report, ${\beta}$-asarone found in acorus plant has been investigated as an anti-amyloid molecule. ${\beta}$-Asarone was demonstrated to prevent in vitro fibrillation of $A{\beta}$ by inducing the oligomer formation that obviously decreased cytotoxicity. Therefore, ${\beta}$-asarone could be suggested as an inhibitory agent of $A{\beta}$ fibrillation and toxicity, which would help us not only to understand underlying principle of amyloidogenesis mechanism but also to develop a controlling strategy toward AD.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• 제35권2호
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• pp.425-430
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• 2014

Amyloidogenic proteins often exhibit fibrillar polymorphism through alternative assembly processes, which has been considered to have possible pathological implications. Here, firefly luciferase (LUC) is shown to induce amyloid polymorphism of ${\alpha}$-synuclein, the major constituent of Lewy bodies found in Parkinson's disease, by acting as a novel template. The drastically accelerated fibrillation kinetics of ${\alpha}$-synuclein with LUC required the nucleation center produced by the active enzyme of LUC. Fluorescent dye binding, transmission electron microscopy, and Fourier transformed infrared spectroscopy revealed the morphologically distinctive amyloid fibrils of ${\alpha}$-synuclein prepared in the absence or presence of LUC. As the altered morphological characteristics became inherent to the mature fibrils, those properties were inherited to next-generations via nucleation-dependent fibrillation process. The seed control, therefore, would be an effective means to modify amyloid fibrils with different biochemical characteristics. In addition, the LUC-directed amyloid fibrillar polymorphism also suggests that other cellular biomolecules including enzymes in general are able to diversify amyloid fibrils, which could be self-propagated with diversified biological activities, if any, inside cells.

• Journal of Dairy Science and Biotechnology
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• 제39권3호
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• pp.94-103
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• 2021

The lack of an effective treatment for Alzheimer's disease (AD) stems primarily from incomplete understanding of AD's causes. A rapidly growing number of scientific reports highlight important roles played by peripheral infections and intestinal bacterial flora in pathological and physiological functions involving the microbiome-intestine-brain axis. The microbiome controls basic aspects of the central nervous system (CNS), immunity, and behavior, in health and disease. Changes in the density and composition of the microbiome have been linked to disorders of the immune, endocrine, and nervous systems, including mood changes, depression, increased susceptibility to stressors, and autistic behaviors. There is no doubt that in patients with AD, restoration of the intestinal microbiome to a composition reminiscent of that found in healthy adult humans will significantly slow the progression of neurodegeneration, by ameliorating inflammatory reactions and/or amyloidogenesis. In the near future, better understanding of bidirectional communication between the brain and microbiota will allow the development of functional diets using specific probiotic bacteria.

• Biomolecules & Therapeutics
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• 제28권2호
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• pp.145-151
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• 2020

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a devastating neurodegenerative disease and a major cause of dementia in elderly individuals worldwide. Increased deposition of insoluble amyloid β (Aβ) fibrils in the brain is thought be a key neuropathological hallmark of AD. Many recent studies show that natural products such as polyphenolic flavonoids inhibit the formation of insoluble Aβ fibrils and/or destabilize β-sheet-rich Aβ fibrils to form non-cytotoxic aggregates. In the present study, we explored the structure-activity relationship of naturally-occurring biflavonoids on Aβ amyloidogenesis utilizing an in vitro thioflavin T assay with Aβ1-42 peptide which is prone to aggregate more rapidly to fibrils than Aβ1-40 peptide. Among the biflavonoids we tested, we found amentoflavone revealed the most potent effects on inhibiting Aβ1-42 fibrillization (IC₅₀: 0.26 µM), as well as on disassembling preformed Aβ1-42 fibrils (EC₅₀: 0.59 µM). Our structure-activity relationship study suggests that the hydroxyl groups of biflavonoid compounds play an essential role in their molecular interaction with the dynamic process of Aβ1-42 fibrillization. Our atomic force microscopic imaging analysis demonstrates that amentoflavone directly disrupts the fibrillar structure of preformed Aβ1-42 fibrils, resulting in conversion of those fibrils to amorphous Aβ1-42 aggregates. These results indicate that amentoflavone affords the most potent anti-amyloidogenic effects on both inhibition of Aβ1-42 fibrillization and disaggregation of preformed mature Aβ1-42 fibrils.

• Biomolecules & Therapeutics
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• 제20권3호
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• pp.332-339
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• 2012

The components of Magnolia officinalis have well known to act anti-inflammatory, anti-oxidative and neuroprotective activities. These efficacies have been sold many products as nutritional supplement extracted from bark of Magnolia officinalis. Thus, to assess and compare neuroprotective effect in the nutritional supplement (Magnolia $Extract^{TM}$, Health Freedom Nutrition LLC, USA) and our ethanol extract of Magnolia officinalis (BioLand LTD, Korea), we investigated memorial improving and anti-Alzheimer's disease effects of extract products of Magnolia officinalis in a transgenic AD mice model. Oral pretreatment of two extract products of Magnolia officinalis (10 mg/kg/day in 0.05% ethanol) into drinking water for 3 months ameliorated memorial dysfunction and prevented $A{\beta}$ accumulation in the brain of Tg2576 mice. In addition, extract products of Magnolia officinalis also decreased expression of ${\beta}$-site APP cleaving enzyme 1 (BACE1), amyloid precursor protein (APP) and its product, C99. Although both two extract products of Magnolia officinalis could show preventive effect of memorial dysfunction and $A{\beta}$ accumulation, our ethanol extract of Magnolia officinalis (BioLand LTD, Korea) could be more effective than Magnolia $Extract^{TM}$ (Health Freedom Nutrition LLC, USA). Therefore, our results showed that extract products of Magnolia officinalis were effective for prevention and treatment of AD through memorial improving and anti-amyloidogenic effects via down-regulating ${\beta}$-secretase activity, and neuroprotective efficacy of Magnolia extracts could be differed by cultivating area and manufacturing methods.

• 생명과학회지
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• 제20권7호
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• pp.1012-1018
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• 2010

본 연구에서, 고지방식이에 의한 비만, streptozotocin처리에 의한 당뇨 및 노화에 의해 알츠하이머병의 원인 유전자인 APP의 발현이상이 생기는지를 조사하였다. 일반식이(ND)/고지방식이(HFD), 16주령/26주령, 및 정상/당뇨 등의 조건별 8가지 조합에 88마리의 C57BL/6 생쥐를 각 그룹에 최소 10마리씩 나누어 키웠으며, 각 실험생쥐로부터 추출한 부고피하지방 및 부고환지방조직에서의 APP mRNA 발현양을 quantitative real-time PCR로 측정하였다. 그 결과, 피하지방조직에서의 APP 유전자는 16주령과 26주령에서 고지방식이로 키워 비만을 유도한 동물에서 2배정도 높게 발현되었으나(16주령 $125.0{\pm}13.9$ vs. $63.5{\pm}9.9$, p=0.001; 26주령 $120.2{\pm}6.0$ vs. $51.8{\pm}6.3$, p<0.0001), 부고환지방조직에서는 APP 발현양의 차이가 나타나지 않았다. 16주령과 26주령 사이에서의 노화에 따른 APP 발현양의 차이도 나타나지 않았다. 또한, 일반 및 고지방식이로 키운 16주령 생쥐의 피하지방조직 APP 유전자 발현은 STZ에 의해 유도된 당뇨병 생쥐에서 크게 감소되었다(ND non-diabetic $63.5{\pm}9.9$ vs. diabetic $40.2{\pm}5.0$, p<0.05; HFD $125.0{\pm}13.9$ vs. $67.0{\pm}9.0$, p<0.01). APP mRNA 발현양의 선형회귀분석에 의하면, 당뇨병이 유발되지 않은 일반 생쥐(R=0.657, p<0.0001, n=39)와 당뇨병 생쥐(R=0.508, p=<0.0001, n=49) 모두에서의 APP mRNA 발현양이 체중과 깊은 연관성이 있음이 확인되었으나, APP mRNA 양과 혈당과의 연관성은 나타나지 않았다. 이는 STZ에 의한 당뇨병 생쥐에서 관찰된 APP mRNA 발현의 감소는 고혈당증에 의한 것이 아닌 체중감소의 영향인 것으로 추측된다. 본 연구의 결과로 APP mRNA는 생쥐의 피하지방 및 부고환지방에서 발현되고 있고, 비만에의 의해 증가하며, 체중감소에 의해 감소한다는 것을 확인하였다. 이들 결과는 사람에게서 확인된 체중변화에 의한 APP 이상발현 현상을 더욱 분명히 보여주었으며, 이런 APP 이상발현이 중년기 비만과 노령기의 알츠하이머병 환자 뇌에서의 amyloidogenesis 증가 매개자로서의 역할 가능성을 시사한다.