Amyloid awakenings

摘要

Jae-Eun Kang was using a new microdialysis technique to measure how levels of soluble amyloid-β protein in the mouse brain change in response to physiological stress when she noticed something odd. It's thought that the level of soluble amyloid-(3 correlates with the eventual formation of amyloid-β plaques in the brain, one of the hallmarks of Alzheimer's disease. But Kang found that the proteins concentration seemed to peak during waking hours and fall as the mice slept.