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Download fileEarly Aggregation Kinetics of Alzheimer’s Aβ16–21 in the Presence of Ultrafine Fullerene Particles and Ammonium Nitrate
journal contribution
posted on 2021-07-16, 06:13 authored by Samal Kaumbekova, Dhawal ShahOne
of the environmental health and safety concerns is the toxicological
impact of ultrafine particles (UFPs) and secondary inorganic ions
on human health, particularly on the development of neurodegenerative
diseases. According to recent research studies, UFPs can be absorbed
to human blood and have a toxicological effect on human organs. Due
to their small particle size, UFPs can translocate to the human brain
and contribute to the progression of neurodegenerative diseases. In
this work, a molecular dynamics study was performed to investigate
the impact of carbon-based UFP, mimicked by fullerene C60 molecule, on the aggregation of amyloid β (Aβ) peptides,
which is related to the progression of Alzheimer’s disease.
Moreover, the synergistic effect of the UFP and environmental pollutants
was analyzed at various concentrations of the ions found in the environmental
realm. In particular, the effect of C60 on the aggregation
kinetics of eight Aβ16–21 peptides, the segment
of Aβ peptide, was studied in the presence of NH4NO3 by varying the salt concentrations from 50 to 150
mM. Overall, the results showed the formation of large amounts of
β-sheets in the systems with a slow initial rate of the aggregation
of Aβ16–21 peptide octamer. In the absence
of the UFP, the slowest initial rate of the aggregation of Aβ16–21 peptide octamer was observed at 50 mM salt concentration,
while, in the presence of C60, the slowest aggregation
kinetics of Aβ16–21 peptides was observed
at 150 mM salt concentration. Moreover, in general, the presence of
carbon-based UFP reduced the interpeptide interactions and decreased
the initial rate of the aggregation of peptides due to the binding
of peptides to C60.