Amyloid Proteins May Be Getting Too Much Blame In Alzheimer's

Amyloids are the quintessential bad boys of neurobiology. These clumps of misfolded proteins found in the brains of people with Alzheimer's disease and other neurodegenerative disorders muck up the seamless workings of the neurons responsible for memory and movement, and researchers around the world have devoted themselves to devising ways of blocking their production or accumulation in humans. Understanding how amyloids form requires an understanding of the biology of proteins, which are essentially strings of smaller components called amino acids attached end to end. Once they're made, these protein strings twist and fold into specific three-dimensional shapes that fit together like keys and locks to do the work of the cell. read more

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