People's Choice Winner: AFM images of prion fragment 106-128 fibrillization reaction
Photo by Deepika Regmi, Ph.D., graduate student, Charles E. Schmidt College of Science
Prion disease is a fatal neurodegenerative disorder of the central nervous system. Prion fragments (106-128) have a high propensity to accumulate in the brain and cause prion diseases. We want to investigate an anti-prion compound that inhibits or delays the aggregation process. Green tea contains polyphenols and flavonoids an important class of antioxidants and can therefore fight or even prevent diseases. The AFM image of the prion 106-128 fibrillization reactions in in-vitro conditions, under physiological conditions, incubated for 85 hours in the absence and presence of polyphenols.
Image 1: The prion peptide itself forms dense amyloid fibrils (without polyphenols). Image 2: The fibrillization reaction of prion peptides with 100 繕M naringenin (polyphenol). Image 3: The formation of amyloid fibrils of prion peptides with 100 繕M quercetin (polyphenol). Quercetin slightly inhibits the aggregation of prion peptides.