Observations of amyloid breakdown by proteases over time using scanning acoustic microscopy

What is it about?

Amyloid consists of fibrillar proteins and is difficult to break down. We developed new method to quantitatively calculate amyloid break down. We degrade different kinds of amyloid fibrils to follow them by attenuation of sound images over time.

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Why is it important?

To degrade amyloid fibrils is not easy, but possible with new therapeutic drugs. Congo red staining is mandatory to detect amyloid histologically. However, this method is qualitative and not suitable for observation over time. We hypothesized that broken-down amyloid showed reduced attenuation of sound (AOS) through it because decreased fibers passed sound waves with less loss of energy. The images of amyloid fibrils breakdown corresponded to reduced Congo-red satin images.