Optimized Ultrasonic Irradiation Finds Out Ultrastable Aβ_1–40 Oligomers

Abstract

Oligomer species of amyloid β (Aβ) peptides are intensively investigated because of their relevance to Alzheimer's disease (AD), and a stable oligomer will be a cause of AD. In this article, we investigate the structural stability of two representative Aβ_1-40 oligomers, which are with and without the β-sheet structure, denoted by β and non-β oligomers, respectively, using optimized ultrasonic irradiation (OUI). Recent studies reveal that OUI significantly accelerates the fibril formation in Aβ_1-40 monomers; it is capable of transforming any unstable oligomers into fibrils (the dead-end products) in a short time. First, we find that β oligomers can be produced under high-speed stirring agitation; their β-sheet structures are evaluated by the circular-dichroism spectrum measurement, by the immunoassay using the fibril-specific OC antibody, and by the seeding experiment, showing identical characteristics to those formed in previous reports. Second, we form non-β oligomers in a high-concentration NaCl solution and confirm that they include no β-sheet structure, and they are recognized by the oligomer-specific A11 antibody. Furthermore, we confirm the neurotoxicity of the two types of oligomers using the neural tissue derived from mouse embryonic stem cells. We apply the OUI agitation to the β and non-β oligomers. The non-β oligomers are transformed into the fibrils, indicating that they are intermediate species in the fibrillation pathway. However, the β oligomers are surprisingly unaffected by OUI, indicating their high thermodynamic stability. We conclude that the β oligomers should be the independent dead-end products of another pathway, different from the fibrillation pathway.