Solid-State NMR Structural Studies of Beta-Amyloid

这项研究的长期目标是更好地了解由淀粉样蛋白肽组成的原纤维的结构。这些原纤维是阿尔茨海默病患者老年斑的主要成分，并被认为是该疾病的有毒物质。人们希望更好地了解这些原纤维的结构和它们组成的肽将导致阿尔茨海默病的预防和治疗。该项目将首先专注于一个模型肽，然后再转移到fl-淀粉样肽的一个小节，最终，完整的肽。确定淀粉样蛋白结构的主要技术将是固态核磁共振波谱。这项技术的进一步发展将在本研究项目的过程中发生，很可能扩展固态核磁共振在生物分子结构测定中的适用性。

The long-term objective of this research is to attain a better understanding of the structure of fibrils composed of fl-amyloid peptides. These fibrils are the main component of the senile plaques found in patients with Alzheimer's disease and have been implicated as the toxic species in that disease. It is hoped that a better understanding of the structure of these fibrils and the peptides of which they are composed will lead to preventative and therapeutic treatments for Alzheimer's disease. This project will initially focus on a model peptide before moving on to a subsection of the fl-amyloid peptide and, eventually, the complete peptide. The main technique for determining the structure of fl- amyloid will be solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy. The further development of this technique that will occur ill the course of this research project is likely to extend the applicability of solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance for structural determination of biological molecules.