Measurement of intrinsic properties of amyloid fibrils by the peak force QNM method

Nanoscale. 2012 Aug 7;4(15):4426-9. doi: 10.1039/c2nr30768e. Epub 2012 Jun 11.

Abstract

We report the investigation of the mechanical properties of different types of amyloid fibrils by the peak force quantitative nanomechanical (PF-QNM) technique. We demonstrate that this technique correctly measures the Young's modulus independent of the polymorphic state and the cross-sectional structural details of the fibrils, and we show that values for amyloid fibrils assembled from heptapeptides, α-synuclein, Aβ(1-42), insulin, β-lactoglobulin, lysozyme, ovalbumin, Tau protein and bovine serum albumin all fall in the range of 2-4 GPa.

MeSH terms

  • Amyloid / chemistry*
  • Amyloid / metabolism
  • Amyloid beta-Peptides / chemistry
  • Amyloid beta-Peptides / metabolism
  • Animals
  • Cattle
  • Elastic Modulus
  • Lactoglobulins / chemistry
  • Lactoglobulins / metabolism
  • Muramidase / chemistry
  • Muramidase / metabolism
  • Nanotechnology / methods*
  • Ovalbumin / chemistry
  • Ovalbumin / metabolism
  • Peptide Fragments / chemistry
  • Peptide Fragments / metabolism
  • Serum Albumin, Bovine / chemistry
  • Serum Albumin, Bovine / metabolism
  • alpha-Synuclein / chemistry
  • alpha-Synuclein / metabolism
  • tau Proteins / chemistry
  • tau Proteins / metabolism

Substances

  • Amyloid
  • Amyloid beta-Peptides
  • Lactoglobulins
  • Peptide Fragments
  • alpha-Synuclein
  • amyloid beta-protein (1-42)
  • tau Proteins
  • Serum Albumin, Bovine
  • Ovalbumin
  • Muramidase