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Aβ Measurement by Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay

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Amyloid Proteins

Part of the book series: Methods in Molecular Biology ((MIMB,volume 849))

Abstract

The neuritic plaque in the brain of Alzheimer’s disease patients consists of an amyloid composed primarily of Aβ, an approximately 4-kDa peptide derived from the amyloid precursor protein. Multiple lines of evidence suggest that Aβ plays a key role in the pathogenesis of the disease, and potential treatments that target Aβ production and/or Aβ accumulation in the brain as β-amyloid are being aggressively pursued. Methods to quantitate the Aβ peptide are, therefore, invaluable to most studies aimed at a better understanding of the molecular etiology of the disease and in assessing potential therapeutics. Although other techniques have been used to measure Aβ in the brains of AD patients and β-amyloid-depositing transgenic mice, the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) is one of the most commonly used, reliable, and sensitive methods for quantitating the Aβ peptide. Here we describe methods for the recovery of both soluble and deposited Aβ from brain tissue and the subsequent quantitation of the peptide by sandwich ELISA.

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Acknowledgments

This work has been supported by the Alzheimer’s Association (IIRG-07-60047 to P.M.M.) and the National Institute on Aging (AG017617 to P.M.M., R.A.N.). We thank Drs. Karen Duff (Columbia University) and David Westaway (University of Alberta) for the transgenic mouse brains used in the sample data. We are very indebted to Dr. Marc Mercken (Johnson and Johnson Pharmaceutical Research and Development/Janssen Pharmaceutica) for the use of his anti-Aβ antibodies.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Center for Dementia Research, Nathan S. Kline Institute for Psychiatric Research, Orangeburg, NY, USA

    Stephen D. Schmidt, Matthew J. Mazzella, Ralph A. Nixon & Paul M. Mathews

  2. Vaccine Research Center, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases , National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA

    Stephen D. Schmidt

  3. Departments of Psychiatry and Cell Biology, New York University School of Medicine, New York, NY, USA

    Ralph A. Nixon

  4. Department of Psychiatry, New York University School of Medicine, New York, NY, USA

    Paul M. Mathews

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  1. Stephen D. Schmidt
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  2. Matthew J. Mazzella
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  4. Paul M. Mathews
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Correspondence to Stephen D. Schmidt .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. School of Medicine, Dept. Psychiatry, New York University, First Ave. 550, New York, 10016, New York, USA

    Einar M. Sigurdsson

  2. Centro Nacional de Microbiología, Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Carretera Majadahonda-Pozuelo Km 2, Madrid, 28220, Spain

    Miguel Calero

  3. Inst. Química Física, Rocasolano, CSIC Madrid, C/ Serrano 119, Madrid, 28006, Spain

    María Gasset

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Schmidt, S.D., Mazzella, M.J., Nixon, R.A., Mathews, P.M. (2012). Aβ Measurement by Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay. In: Sigurdsson, E., Calero, M., Gasset, M. (eds) Amyloid Proteins. Methods in Molecular Biology, vol 849. Humana Press. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-61779-551-0_34

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-61779-551-0_34

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