Measuring Amyloid Beta
There are many different ways to measure Amyloid beta. It can be measured semi-quantitatively with immunostaining, which also allows one to determine location. Amyloid beta may be primarily vascular, as in cerebral amyloid angiopathy, or in senile plaques and vascular.
One highly sensitive method is ELISA which is an immunosorbent assay which utilizes a pair of antibodies that recognize Amyloid beta.
Imaging compounds, notably Pittsburgh compound B, (6-OH-BTA-1, a thioflavin), can selectively bind to amyloid beta in vitro and in vivo. This technique, combined with PET imaging, has been used to image areas of plaque deposits in Alzheimer's patients.
Atomic force microscopy, which can visualize nanoscale molecular surfaces, can be used to determine the aggregation state of Amyloid beta in vitro.
Dual polarisation interferometry is an optical technique which can measure the very earliest stages of aggregration and inhibition by measuring the molecular size and densities as the fibrils elongate. These aggregate processes can also be studied on lipid bilayer constructs.
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