TY - JOUR
T1 - Confined laminar flow on a super-hydrophobic surface drives the initial stages of tau protein aggregation
AU - Moretti, Manola
AU - Allione, Marco
AU - Marini, Monica
AU - Giugni, Andrea
AU - Torre, Bruno
AU - Das, Gobind
AU - Di Fabrizio, Enzo M.
N1 - KAUST Repository Item: Exported on 2020-10-01
Acknowledged KAUST grant number(s): OCRF-2014-CRG, OCRF-2016-CRG
Acknowledgements: The authors acknowledge financial support from King Abdullah University of Science and Technology for OCRF-2014-CRG and OCRF-2016-CRG grants, the Italian Ministry of Health under project nos. GR-2010-2320665 and GR-2010-2311677.
PY - 2018/2/1
Y1 - 2018/2/1
N2 - Super-hydrophobic micro-patterned surfaces are ideal substrates for the controlled self-assembly and substrate-free characterization of biological molecules. In this device, the tailored surface supports a micro-volume drop containing the molecules of interest. While the quasi-spherical drop is evaporating under controlled conditions, its de-wetting direction is guided by the pillared microstructure on top of the device, leading to the formation of threads between the neighboring pillars. This effect has been exploited here to elucidate the mechanism triggering the formation of amyloid fibers and oligomers in tau related neurodegenerative diseases. By using Raman spectroscopy, we demonstrate that the fiber bridging the pillars contains β-sheets, a characteristic feature of amyloid aggregation. We propose that the combination of laminar flow, shear stress and molecular crowding taking place while the drop is evaporating on the SHMS, induces the reorganization of the tau protein secondary structure and we suggest that this effect could in fact closely mimic the actual mechanism occurring in the human brain environment. Such a straightforward technique opens up new possibilities in the field of self-assembly of biomolecules and their characterization by different methods (SEM, AFM, Raman spectroscopy, TEM), in a single device.
AB - Super-hydrophobic micro-patterned surfaces are ideal substrates for the controlled self-assembly and substrate-free characterization of biological molecules. In this device, the tailored surface supports a micro-volume drop containing the molecules of interest. While the quasi-spherical drop is evaporating under controlled conditions, its de-wetting direction is guided by the pillared microstructure on top of the device, leading to the formation of threads between the neighboring pillars. This effect has been exploited here to elucidate the mechanism triggering the formation of amyloid fibers and oligomers in tau related neurodegenerative diseases. By using Raman spectroscopy, we demonstrate that the fiber bridging the pillars contains β-sheets, a characteristic feature of amyloid aggregation. We propose that the combination of laminar flow, shear stress and molecular crowding taking place while the drop is evaporating on the SHMS, induces the reorganization of the tau protein secondary structure and we suggest that this effect could in fact closely mimic the actual mechanism occurring in the human brain environment. Such a straightforward technique opens up new possibilities in the field of self-assembly of biomolecules and their characterization by different methods (SEM, AFM, Raman spectroscopy, TEM), in a single device.
UR - http://hdl.handle.net/10754/627051
UR - http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S016793171830042X
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85041426074&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.mee.2018.01.025
DO - 10.1016/j.mee.2018.01.025
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85041426074
VL - 191
SP - 54
EP - 59
JO - Microelectronic Engineering
JF - Microelectronic Engineering
SN - 0167-9317
ER -