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Fluorescent probes change color depending on what type of amyloid they encounter (credit: Kevin Cao et al./Journal of the American Chemical Society)
Sticky plaques of proteins called amyloids mark several different, though related degenerative brain diseases, including Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and Creutzfeld-Jacobs. The symptoms of these disorders overlap and methods to diagnose and monitor them are not very advanced.
To solve this problem, scientists at the University of California, San Diego have devised several new fluorescent probes that change color depending on what type of amyloid they encounter.
Because amyloids accumulate in the retina and lens of the eye as well as the brain, so one day, neurodegenerative diseases could be differentially diagnosed with simple eye drops or ointment and an eye exam./.../
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