Simultaneous Single-Molecule Fluorescence and Conductivity Studies Reveal Distinct Classes of Aβ Species on Lipid Bilayers

• Published in: Biochemistry (Easton) 2010-04, Vol.49 (14), p.3031-3039
• Main Authors: Schauerte, Joseph A, Wong, Pamela T, Wisser, Kathleen C, Ding, Hao, Steel, Duncan G, Gafni, Ari
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 0006-2960; 1520-4995
• DOI: 10.1021/bi901444w

The extracellular senile plaques prevalent in brain tissue in Alzheimer’s disease (AD) are composed of amyloid fibrils formed by the Aβ peptide. These fibrils have been traditionally believed to be featured in neurotoxicity; however, numerous recent studies provide evidence that cytotoxicity in AD may be associated with low-molecular weight oligomers of Aβ that associate with neuronal membranes and may lead to membrane permeabilization and disruption of the ion balance in the cell. The underlying mechanism leading to disruption of the membrane is the subject of many recent studies. Here we report the application of single-molecule optical detection, using fluorescently labeled human Αβ40, combined with membrane conductivity measurements, to monitor the interaction of single-oligomeric peptide structures with model planar black lipid membranes (BLMs). In a qualitative study, we show that the binding of Αβ to the membrane can be described by three distinctly different behaviors, depending on the Αβ monomer concentration. For concentrations much below 10 nM, there is uniform binding of monomers over the surface of the membrane with no evidence of oligomer formation or membrane permeabilization. Between 10 nM and a few hundred nanomolar, the uniform monomer binding is accompanied by the presence of peptide species ranging from dimers to small oligomers. The dimers are not found to permeabilize the membrane, but the larger oligomers lead to permeabilization with individual oligomers producing ion conductances of