Amyloid-β(1-42) rapidly forms protofibrils and oligomers by distinct pathways in low concentrations of sodium dodecylsulfatet

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is characterized by large numbers of senile plaques in the brain that consist of fibrillar aggregates of 40- and 42-residue amyloid-beta (A beta) peptides. However, the degree of dementia in AD correlates better with the concentration of soluble A beta species assayed biochemically than with histologically determined plaque counts, and several investigators now propose that soluble aggregates of A beta are the neurotoxic agents that cause memory deficits and neuronal loss. These endogenous aggregates are minor components in brain extracts from AD patients and transgenic mice that express human A, but several species have been detected by gel electrophoresis in sodium dodecylsulfate (SDS) and isolated by size exclusion chromatography (SEC). Endogenous A beta aggregation is stimulated at cellular interfaces rich in lipid rafts, and anionic micelles that promote A aggregation in vitro may be good models of these interfaces. We previously found that micelles formed in dilute SDS (2 mM) promote A beta(1-40) fiber formation by supporting peptide interaction on the surface of a single micelle complex. In contrast, here we report that monomeric A beta(1-42) undergoes an immediate conversion to a predominant P-structured conformation in 2 mM SDS which does not proceed to amyloid fibrils. The conformational. change is instead rapidly followed by the near quantitative conversion of the 4 kDa monomer SDS gel band to 8-14 kDa bands consistent with dimers through tetramers. Removal of SDS by dialysis gave a shift in the predominant SDS gel bands to 30-60 kDa. While these oligomers resemble the endogenous aggregates, they are less stable. In particular, they do not elute as discrete species on SEC, and they are completed disaggregated by boiling in 1% SDS. It appears that endogenous oligomeric A beta aggregates are stabilized by undefined processes that have not yet been incorporated into in vitro A beta aggregation procedures.