Inhibiting and Reversing Amyloid‐β Peptide (1–40) Fibril Formation with Gramicidin S and Engineered Analogues. Issue 51 (11th November 2013)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Luo, Jinghui; Otero, José M.; Yu, Chien‐Hung; Wärmländer, Sebastian K. T. S.; Gräslund, Astrid; Overhand, Mark; Abrahams, Jan Pieter
• Is Part Of: Chemistry. Volume 19:Issue 51(2013)
• Page Start: 17338
• Page End: 17348
• Publication Date: 2013-11-11
• Subjects: Chemistry -- Periodicals; 540
• DOI: 10.1002/chem.201301535
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0947-6539

Abstract

<abstract abstract-type="main" xml:lang="en"> <title>Abstract</title> <p>In Alzheimer's disease, amyloid‐β (Aβ) peptides aggregate into extracellular fibrillar deposits. Although these deposits may not be the prime cause of the neurodegeneration that characterizes this disease, inhibition or dissolution of amyloid fibril formation by Aβ peptides is likely to affect its development. ThT fluorescence measurements and AFM images showed that the natural antibiotic gramicidin S significantly inhibited Aβ amyloid formation in vitro and could dissolve amyloids that had formed in the absence of the antibiotic. In silico docking suggested that gramicidin S, a cyclic decapeptide that adopts a β‐sheet conformation, binds to the Aβ peptide hairpin‐stacked fibril through β‐sheet interactions. This may explain why gramicidin S reduces fibril formation. Analogues of gramicidin S were also tested. An analogue with a potency that was four‐times higher than that of the natural product was identified.</p> </abstract>