Rigid deformations of Alzheimer paired helical filaments-a novel substrate for fabricating nanostructures

摘要

Paired helical filaments (PHF) are abnormal nanometre-scale filamentous structures that accumulate in neurons during Alzheimer's disease. PHF have many interesting properties including stringent insolubility, and a helicity or periodicity of approximately=80 nm. A small proportion of the PHF extracted from Alzheimer-diseased brain in the presence of detergents are distorted such that two continuous segments of PHF form a bent structure. Specifically, these filaments appear to have angular profiles that are oriented on flat surfaces such that the site of the mechanical deformation projects perpendicular to the surface. The distorted PHF have a wide range of bend angles (92 degrees +or-21 degrees ) but do not supercoil, probably due to their rigidity. Due to the insolubility and rigidity of PHF, the angular form of this structure may be useful in microfabricating corners on the nanometre scale.