Characterizing bathocuproine self-association and subsequent binding to Alzheimer's disease amyloid β-peptide by NMR

Abstract

Aggregated amyloid β-peptide (Aβ) is the primary constituent of the extracellular plaques and perivascular amyloid deposits associated with Alzheimer's disease (AD). Deposition of the cerebral amyloid plaques is thought to be central to the disease progression. One such molecule that has previously been shown to 'dissolve' deposited amyloid in post-mortem brain tissue is bathocuproine (BC). In this paper 1H NMR chemical shift analysis and pulsed field gradient NMR diffusion measurements were used to study BC self-association and subsequent binding to Aβ. The results show that BC undergoes self-association as its concentration increases. The association constant of BC dimerization, Ka, was es..