Alzheimer's Disease Research Today is a free monthly online journal that collates and summarizes the latest research about Alzheimer's Disease, including details on diagnosis, memory loss, heredity, treatment, medication.

Single particle detection of Abeta aggregates associated with Alzheimer's disease.

Funke SA, Birkmann E, Henke F, Görtz P, Lange-Asschenfeldt C, Riesner D, Willbold D

Forschungszentrum Jülich, INB-2, 52425 Jülich, Germany.

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder and the most common cause of dementia. Today, AD can be diagnosed with certainty only post-mortem, by histopathologic staining of Abeta plaques and neurofibrillary tangles in brain tissue sections. We have developed an ultra-sensitive assay potentially suitable for early and non-invasive diagnosis of AD. This highly specific and sensitive assay uses fluorescence correlation spectroscopy (FCS) and is sensitive enough to detect even single aggregates in body fluids of AD patients. First results show a clear distinction between AD diseased people and non-demented controls by analysing cerebrospinal fluids (CSF) by confocal scanning of surface captured Abeta aggregates and subsequent two-dimensional fluorescence intensity distribution analysis.

Published 20 November 2007 in Biochem Biophys Res Commun, 364(4): 902-7.
Full-text of this article is available online (may require subscription).

© 2004-2008 Alzheimer's Disease Research Today. All Rights Reserved.