Nanoplasmonic fiber tip probe detects significant reduction of intracellular Alzheimer’s disease-related oligomers by curcumin

Abstract

Considerable evidence shows critical roles of intracellular pathogenic events of Alzheimer’s disease (AD). In particular, intracellular amyloid-β accumulation and oligomerization are early AD pathologic processes, which may lead to changes in inflammatory molecules and other AD-related pathological components. Curcumin and its analogs have been identified as potential drug candidates for AD. However, the effects of curcumin on intracellular AD pathologic processes remain largely unknown. Here we utilized a recently developed nanoplasmonic fiber tip probe (nFTP) technology and investigated whether curcumin leads to intracellular AD pathologic changes. We showed that our nFTP technology could robustly detect intracellular AD-related protein changes caused by a well-known inflammation inducer and a familial AD mutation. Intriguingly, curcumin remarkably reduced the level of intracellular oligomers while modestly reduced the level of an inflammatory cytokine. Thus, our results provided evidence that curcumin’s mechanism of action in attenuating AD pathology is through a major role of decreasing oligomerization.

The anesthetic sevoflurane induces tau trafficking from neurons to microglia

“…We established a label-free nanobeam technology 29 , 30 to detect tau and p-tau in blood, ISF, neuron culture medium, EVs, and microglia. Note that the blood, ISF, and neuron culture medium was not lysed before the measurement of tau or p-tau by the nanobeam technology.…”

“…Note that the blood, ISF, and neuron culture medium was not lysed before the measurement of tau or p-tau by the nanobeam technology. The establishment and mechanism of the nanobeam-sensor were described in detail in previous publications 29 , 30 . We used an anti-tau 5 antibody (Cat# ab80579, Abcam, Cambridge, MA) and a phospho-tau (Ser202, Thr205) monoclonal antibody (AT8) (MN1020, ThermoFisher Scientific, Waltham, MA) to capture tau and p-tau, respectively.…”

“…A novel nanobeam-sensor technology, the label-free assay, was used to overcome the existing technical challenges in tau and phosphorylated tau (p-tau) detection 29 , 30 . When analytes from the sample bound to the antibodies on the nanobeam-sensor, the spectrum of the nanobeam, as monitored by the laser, shift to the longer wavelength.…”

Targeting Amyloid Aggregation: An Overview of Strategies and Mechanisms

“…It is a major component of Indian curries [ 127 , 128 ]. This molecule has been proved to interfere with the amyloid aggregation of Aβ [ 129 , 130 , 131 ], α-syn [ 132 ], tau [ 133 , 134 ] and PrP, although in this latter case there is no evidence that this interaction prevents of the appearance of toxic aggregates [ 135 ].…”

“…Plenty of evidence confirms that, irrespective of other well-known cytoprotective effects exerted by the molecule at the cellular level, curcumin also mitigates the neurotoxicity by directly interacting with the amyloidogenic proteins, thus preventing or reducing the appearance of the cytotoxic oligomeric forms [ 129 , 130 , 131 , 135 ].…”