People's Choice Winner: AFM images of prion fragment 106-128 fibrillization reaction⁠

Photo by Deepika Regmi, Ph.D., graduate student, Charles E. Schmidt College of Science

Prion disease is a fatal neurodegenerative disorder of the central nervous system. Prion fragments (106-128) have a high propensity to accumulate in the brain and cause prion diseases. We want to investigate an anti-prion compound that inhibits or delays the aggregation process. Green tea contains polyphenols and flavonoids — an important class of antioxidants — and can therefore fight or even prevent diseases. The AFM image of the prion 106-128 fibrillization reactions in in-vitro conditions, under physiological conditions, incubated for 85 hours in the absence and presence of polyphenols. ⁠

Image 1: The prion peptide itself forms dense amyloid fibrils (without polyphenols).⁠ Image 2: The fibrillization reaction of prion peptides with 100 µM naringenin (polyphenol). Image 3: The formation of amyloid fibrils of prion peptides with 100 µM quercetin (polyphenol). Quercetin slightly inhibits the aggregation of prion peptides.⁠