The defining characteristic of Alzheimer's disease is the presence of senile plaques which consist of peptide aggregates, including the beta amyloid peptide. Because metal cations have been found in high quantities in senile plaques, we hypothesize that these cations bind at specific sites of the beta amyloid peptide, namely the N-terminal hydrophilic region, thereby reducing the water solubility of the peptide and causing it to aggregate. Here we explore the interactions between the Zn 2+ ion and the beta amyloid peptide, which are known to form a relatively stable complex. We propose that zinc binds through a combination of three amino acids, namely histidine 12, histidine 13 and histidine 6, and possibly, aspartate 1and/or glutamic acid 3 and 11. The stability of the zinc/beta amyloid complex will also be discussed and compared with other metal cations.

Investigation of the interaction between zinc and the beta amyloid peptide

243rd National Meeting (2012)

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