Capillary electrophoresis for the analysis of the effect of sample preparation on early stages of Aβ1-40 aggregation

Effect of Bacterial Amyloid Protein Phenol-Soluble Modulin Alpha 3 on the Aggregation of Amyloid Beta Protein Associated with Alzheimer's Disease

Since the proposal of the brainstem axis theory, increasing research attention has been paid to the interactions between bacterial amyloids produced by intestinal flora and the amyloid β-protein (Aβ) related to Alzheimer's disease (AD), and it has been considered as the possible cause of AD. Therefore, phenol-soluble modulin (PSM) α3, the most virulent protein secreted by Staphylococcus aureus, has attracted much attention. In this work, the effect of PSMα3 with a unique cross-α fibril architecture on the aggregation of pathogenic Aβ40 of AD was studied by extensive biophysical characterizations. The results proposed that the PSMα3 monomer inhibited the aggregation of Aβ40 in a concentration-dependent manner and changed the aggregation pathway to form granular aggregates. However, PSMα3 oligomers promoted the generation of the β-sheet structure, thus shortening the lag phase of Aβ40 aggregation. Moreover, the higher the cross-α content of PSMα3, the stronger the effect of the promotion, indicating that the cross-α structure of PSMα3 plays a crucial role in the aggregation of Aβ40. Further molecular dynamics (MD) simulations have shown that the Met1-Gly20 region in the PSMα3 monomer can be combined with the Asp1-Ala2 and His13-Val36 regions in the Aβ40 monomer by hydrophobic and electrostatic interactions, which prevents the conformational conversion of Aβ40 from the α-helix to β-sheet structure. By contrast, PSMα3 oligomers mainly combined with the central hydrophobic core (CHC) and the C-terminal region of the Aβ40 monomer by weak H-bonding and hydrophobic interactions, which could not inhibit the transition to the β-sheet structure in the aggregation pathway. Thus, the research has unraveled molecular interactions between Aβ40 and PSMα3 of different structures and provided a deeper understanding of the complex interactions between bacterial amyloids and AD-related pathogenic Aβ.

Advances in capillary electrophoresis and the implications for drug discovery

INTRODUCTION

Many screening platforms are prone to assay interferences that can be avoided by directly measuring the target or enzymatic product. Capillary electrophoresis (CE) and microchip electrophoresis (MCE) have been applied in a variety of formats to drug discovery. CE provides direct detection of the product allowing for the identification of some forms of assay interference. The high efficiency, rapid separations, and low volume requirements make CE amenable to drug discovery. Areas covered: This article describes advances in capillary electrophoresis throughput, sample introduction, and target assays as they pertain to drug discovery and screening. Instrumental advances discussed include integrated droplet microfluidics platforms and multiplexed arrays. Applications of CE to assays of diverse drug discovery targets, including enzymes and affinity interactions are also described. Expert opinion: Current screening with CE does not fully take advantage of the throughputs or low sample volumes possible with CE and is most suitable as a secondary screening method or for screens that are inaccessible with more common platforms. With further development, droplet microfluidics coupled to MCE could take advantage of the low sample requirements by performing assays on the nanoliter scale at high throughput.

Protein Cross-Linking Capillary Electrophoresis for Protein-Protein Interaction Analysis

Capillary electrophoresis (CE) has been identified as a useful platform for detecting, quantifying, and screening for modulators of protein-protein interactions (PPIs). In this method, one protein binding partner is labeled with a fluorophore, the protein binding partners are mixed, and then, the complex is separated from free protein to allow direct determination of bound to free ratios. Although it possesses many advantages for PPI studies, the method is limited by the need to have separation conditions that both prevent protein adsorption to capillary and maintain protein interactions during the separation. In this work, we use protein cross-linking capillary electrophoresis (PXCE) to overcome this limitation. In PXCE, the proteins are cross-linked under binding conditions and then separated. This approach eliminates the need to maintain noncovalent interactions during electrophoresis and facilitates method development. We report PXCE methods for an antibody-antigen interaction and heterodimer and homodimer heat shock protein complexes. Complexes are cross-linked by short treatments with formaldehyde after reaching binding equilibrium. Cross-linked complexes are separated by electrophoretic mobility using free solution CE or by size using sieving electrophoresis of SDS complexes. The method gives good quantitative results; e.g., a lysozyme-antibody interaction was found to have Kd = 24 ± 3 nM by PXCE and Kd = 17 ± 2 nM using isothermal calorimetry (ITC). Heat shock protein 70 (Hsp70) in complex with bcl2 associated athanogene 3 (Bag3) was found to have Kd = 25 ± 5 nM by PXCE which agrees with Kd values reported without cross-linking. Hsp70-Bag3 binding site mutants and small molecule inhibitors of Hsp70-Bag3 were characterized by PXCE with good agreement to inhibitory constants and IC50 values obtained by a bead-based flow cytometry protein interaction assay (FCPIA). PXCE allows rapid method development for quantitative analysis of PPIs.

Field amplified sample stacking of amyloid beta (1-42) oligomers using capillary electrophoresis

Oligomeric forms of the amyloid beta (Aβ) protein have been indicated to be an important factor in the development of Alzheimer's disease (AD). Since the oligomeric forms of Aβ can vary in size and conformation, it is vital to understand the early stages of Aβ aggregation in order to improve the care and treatment of patients with AD. This is the first study to determine the effect of field amplified sample stacking (FASS) on the separation of oligomeric forms of Aβ1-42 using capillary electrophoresis (CE) with ultraviolet (UV) detection. UV-CE was able to separate two different species of Aβ1-42 oligomers (<7 mers and 7-22 mers). Although FASS required the use of a higher ionic strength buffer, Aβ1-42 oligomers had the same aggregation behavior as under the non-FASS conditions with only small changes in the amounts of oligomers observed. In general, FASS provided smaller peak widths (>75% average reduction) and increased peak heights (>60% average increase) when compared to non-FASS conditions. UV-CE with FASS also provided higher resolution between the Aβ1-42 oligomers for all aggregation time points studied. In addition, Congo red and Orange G inhibition studies were used to help evaluate the conformation of the observed species. This work demonstrates the ability of UV-CE employing FASS to provide higher resolution between oligomeric forms of Aβ1-42 without significantly altering their aggregation.

[Physico-chemical methods for studing β-amyloid aggregation]

Alzheimer's disease is the most prevalent neurodegenerative pathology. According to the amyloid cascade hypothesis, a key event of the Alzheimer's disease pathogenesis is a transition of the β-amyloid peptide (Аβ) from the monomeric form to the aggregated state. The mechanism of Аβ aggregation is intensively studied in vitro, by means of synthetic peptides and various physico-chemical methods allowing evaluation of size, molecular structure, and morphology of the formed aggregates. The paper reviews both the well-known and recently introduced physico-chemical methods for analysis of Аβ aggregation, including microscopу, optical and fluorescent methods, method of electron paramagnetic resonance, electrochemical and electrophoretic methods, gel-filtration, and mass spectrometric methods. Merits and drawbacks of the methods are discussed. The unique possibility to simultaneously observe Аβ monomers as well oligomers and large aggregates by means of atomic force microscopy or fluorescence correlation spectroscopy is emphasized. The high detection sensitivity of the latter method, monitoring the aggregation process in Аβ solutions at low peptide concentrations is underlined. Among mass spectrometric methods, the ion mobility mass spectrometry is marked out as a method enabling to obtain information about both the spectrum of Аβ oligomers and their structure. It is pointed out that the use of several methods giving the complementary data about Аβ aggregates is the best experimental approach to studying the process of b-amyloid peptide aggregation in vitro.