Abstract
Neurodegeneration can be described as a progressive damage and eventually death of neuronal cells, affecting the proper function of the whole of the central nervous system. Neurodegeneration leads to diseases called neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease (AD), Parkinson’s disease (PD), and others. Despite major recent research efforts, there is still no effective available disease-specific treatment for individual neurodegenerative diseases. However, clinical findings and observed pathologies of neurodegenerative diseases have focused research towards the molecular level. The target is to study in an effective manner the indicated molecular changes which eventually lead to neurodegeneration. The field of Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) consists of some powerful experimental techniques which allow the study of living cells, and even single biomolecules, in the nanoscale. Thus, it has attracted significant scientific attention over the past few years, and, due to recent advances in the state-of-the-art technology it encompasses, has been established as a key factor in the study and visualizing of neurodegenerative diseases. In this review, AFM principles, modes, and trends are presented with respect to their application in visualizing neurodegeneration.
References
AFMworkshop-Measuring and understanding force-distace curves (technical note), https://www.afmworkshop.com/newsletter/309-measuring-and-analyzing-force-distance-curves-with-atomic-force-microscopy. Accessed 20 Mar 2021
Andreopoulos B, Labudde D (2011) Efficient unfolding pattern recognition in single molecule force spectroscopy data. Algorithms Mol Biol 6:16
Binnig G, Rohrer H (1983) Scanning tunneling microscopy. Surf Sci 126(1–3):236–244
Braga PC, Ricci D (2004) Atomic force microscopy: biomedical methods and applications. Methods in molecular biology Vol.242. Springer Science & Business Media, Berlin
Bredesen DE (2009) Neurodegeneration in Alzheimer’s disease: caspases and synaptic element interdependence. Mol Neurodegener 4(1):27. https://doi.org/10.1186/1750-1326-4-27
Caballero AA, Tapia-Rojo R, Badilla C et al (2021) Magnetic tweezers meets AFM: ultra-stable protein dynamics across the force spectrum. bioRxiv. https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.01.04.425265
Churchill CDM, Healey MA, Preto J et al (2019) Probing the basis of a-Synuclein aggregation by comparing simulations to single-molecule experiments. Biophys J 117:1125–1135
Connelly L, Jang H, Arce FT et al (2012) Atomic force microscopy and MD simulations reveal pore-like structures of all-D-enantiomer of Alzheimer’s β amyloid peptide: relevance to the ion channel mechanism of AD pathology. J Phys Chem B 116(5):1728–1735
Corti R, Cox A, Cassina V et al (2020) The clustering of mApoE anti-Amyloidogenic peptide on nanoparticle surface does not Alter its performance in controlling Beta-amyloid aggregation. Int J Mol Sci 21(3):1066. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms21031066
D’Agostino DP, Olson JE, Dean JB (2009) Acute hyperoxia increases lipid peroxidation and induces plasma membrane blebbing in human U87 glioblastoma cells. Neuroscience 159:1011–1022
Deng X, Xiong F, Li X et al (2018) Application of atomic force microscopy in cancer research. J Nanobiotechnol 16:102. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12951-018-0428-0
Drolle E, Hane F, Lee B et al (2014) Atomic force microscopy to study molecular mechanisms of amyloid fibril formation and toxicity in Alzheimer’s disease. Drug Metab Rev 46(2):207–223. https://doi.org/10.3109/03602532.2014.882354
Dufrene YF, Martinez-Martin D, Medalsy I et al (2013) Multiparametric imaging of biological systems by force-distance curve-based AFM. Nat Methods 10:847–854
Dufrene YF, Ando T, Garcia R et al (2017) Imaging modes of atomic force microscopy for application in molecular and cell biology. Nat Nanotechnol 12:295–307
Fazal FM, Block SM (2011) Optical tweezers study life under tension. Nat Photonics 5:318–321
Friedrichs J, Legate KR, Schubert R et al (2013) A practical guide to quantify cell adhesion using single-cell force spectroscopy. Elsevier Methods 60:169–178
Frost B, Diamond MI (2009) Prion-like mechanisms in neurodegenerative diseases. Nat Rev Neurosci 11(3):155–159. https://doi.org/10.1038/nrn2786
Grzywa EL, Lee AC, Lee GU et al (2006) High-resolution analysis of neuronal growth cone morphology by comparative atomic force and optical microscopy. J Neurobiol 66:1529–1543. https://doi.org/10.1002/neu.20318
Humphris ADL, Miles MJ (2002) Chapter 16: developments in dynamic force microscopy and spectroscopy. In: Elsevier methods in cell biology, vol 68, pp 337–355
Jembrek MJ, Šimić G, Hof P et al (2015) Atomic force microscopy as an advanced tool in neuroscience. Transl Neurosci 6(1). https://doi.org/10.1515/tnsci-2015-0011
Kiio TM, Park S (2020) Nano-scientific application of atomic force microscopy in pathology: from molecules to tissues. Int J Med Sci 17(7):844–858
Kim BH, Lyubchenko YL (2014) Nanoprobing of misfolding and interactions of amyloid β 42 protein. Nanomedicine 10(4):871–878
Kim B-H, Palermo NY, Lovas S et al (2011) Single-molecule atomic force microscopy force spectroscopy study of Aβ-40 interactions. Biochemistry 50:5154–5162
Krasnoslobodtsev AV, Peng J, Asiago JM et al (2012) Effect of spermidine on misfolding and interactions of alpha-synuclein. PLoS One 7:e38099
Lal R, Lin H, Quist AP (2007) Amyloid beta ion channel: 3D structure and relevance to amyloid channel paradigm. Biochim Biophys Acta Biomembr 1768:1966–1975
Levenson RW, Sturm VE, Haase CM (2014) Emotional and behavioral symptoms in neurodegenerative disease: a model for studying the neural bases of psychopathology. Annu Rev Clin Psychol 10(1):581–606. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-clinpsy-032813-153653
Li M, Dang D, Liu L et al (2017) Imaging and force recognition of single molecular behaviors using atomic force microscopy. Sensors 17(12):200. https://doi.org/10.3390/s17010200
Luo L, O’Leary DD (2005) Axon retraction and degeneration in development and disease. Annu Rev Neurosci 28:127–156
Lv Z, Condron MM, Teplow DB et al (2013) Nanoprobing of the effect of cu(2+) cations on misfolding, interaction and aggregation of amyloid beta peptide. J Neuroimmune Pharmacol 8:262–273
Lyubchenko Y (2015) Amyloid misfolding, aggregation, and the early onset of protein deposition diseases: insights from AFM experiments and computational analyses. AIMS Mol Sci 2(3):190–210
Maity S, Lyubchenko Y (2019) Force clamp approach for the characterization of nano-assembly in amyloid beta 42 dimer. Nanoscale 11:12259–12265
Maity S, Lyubchenko Y (2020) AFM probing of amyloid –Beta 42 dimers and trimers. Front Mol Biosci 7:69. https://doi.org/10.3389/fmolb.2020.00069
Maver U, Velnar T, Gaberšček M et al (2016) Recent progressive use of atomic force microscopy in biomedical applications. Trends Anal Chem. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.trac.2016.03.014
Millecamps S, Julien JP (2013) Axonal transport deficits and neurodegenerative diseases. Nat Rev Neurosci 14(3):161–176. https://doi.org/10.1038/nrn3380
Neuman KC, Nagy A (2008) Single-molecule force spectroscopy: optical tweezers, magnetic tweezers and atomic force microscopy. Nat Methods 5(6):491–505
Nguyen-Tri P, Ghassemi P, Carriere P et al (2020) Recent applications of advanced atomic force microscopy in polymer science: a review. Polymers 12:1142. https://doi.org/10.3390/polym12051142
Noy A, Friddle RW (2013) Practical single molecule force spectroscopy: how to determine fundamental thermodynamic parameters of intermolecular bonds with an atomic force microscope. Methods 60(2):142–150. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ymeth.2013.03.014
Proctor E, Fee L, Tao Y et al (2016) Nonnative SOD1 trimer is toxic to motor neurons in a model of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A PNAS 113(3):614–619
Rief M, Grubmuller H (2002) Force spectroscopy for single biomolecules. ChemPhysChem 3:255–261
Ruggeri FS, Benedetti F, Knowles T et al (2018) Identification and nanomechanical characterization of the fundamental single-strand protofilaments of amyloid of α-synuclein fibrils. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A PNAS 115(28):7230–7235
Ruggeri FS, Šneideris T, Vendruscolo M, Knowles TPJ (2019) Atomic force microscopy for single molecule characterisation of protein aggregation. Arch Biochem Biophys 664:134–148. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.abb.2019.02.001
Soumit M (2020) Force spectroscopy on single molecules of life. ACS Omega 5(20):11271–11278. https://doi.org/10.1021/acsomega.0c00814
Spedden E, Staii C (2013) Neuron biomechanics probed by atomic force microscopy. Int J Mol Sci 14:16124–16140
Spedden E, White JD, Naumova EN et al (2012) Elasticity maps of living neurons measured by combined fluorescence and atomic force microscopy. Biophys J 103:868–877
Stirnemann G, Giganti D, Fernandez J et al (2013) Elasticity, structure, and relaxation of extended proteins under force. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A PNAS 110(10):3847–3852
Sumbul F, Rico F (2019) Single molecule force spectroscopy: experiments, analysis and simulation. Methods Mol Biol 1886:163–189
Thoma J, Sapra KT, Muller D (2018) Single-molecule force spectroscopy of transmembrane β-barrel proteins. Annu Rev Anal Chem 11:375–395
Ungureanu AA, Benilova I, Krylychkina O et al (2016) Amyloid beta oligomers induce neuronal elasticity changes in age-dependent manner: a force spectroscopy study on living hippocampal neurons. Sci Rep 6:25841. https://doi.org/10.1038/srep25841
Viji Babu PK, Radmacher M (2019) Mechanics of brain tissues studied by atomic force microscopy: a perspective. Front Neurosci 13:600. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnins.2019.00600
Watanabe-Nakayama T, Ono K, Itami M et al (2016) High speed atomic force microscopy reveals structural dynamics of amyloid Αβ1-42 aggregates. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A PNAS 13(21):5835–5840
Xing S, Liu W, Huang Z et al (2010) Development of neurons on micropatterns reveals that growth cone responds to a sharp change of concentration of laminin. Electrophoresis 31:3144–3151. https://doi.org/10.1002/elps.201000133
Yu J, Malkova S, Lyubchenko Y (2008) α-Synuclein Misfolding: single molecule AFM force spectroscopy study. J Mol Biol 384:992–1001. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jmb.2008.10.006
Yu J, Warnke J, Lyubchenko Y (2011) Nanoprobing of α-synuclein misfolding and aggregation with atomic force microscopy. Nanomedicine 7:146–152
Zhao D, Liu S, Gao Y (2018) Single-molecule manipulation and detection. Acta Biochim Biophys Sin 50(3):231–237
Acknowledgements
This research has been co-financed by the European Union and Greek national fundsthrough the Operational Program Competitiveness, Entrepreneurship and Innovation, under thecall Regional Excellence (Research Activity in the Ionian University, for the study of protein folding in neurodegenerative diseases) (FOLDIT) MIS 5047144.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2022 Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this entry
Cite this entry
Cheirdaris, D. (2022). Visualizing Neurodegeneration Using Atomic Force Microscopy. In: Vlamos, P., Kotsireas, I.S., Tarnanas, I. (eds) Handbook of Computational Neurodegeneration. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-75479-6_4-2
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-75479-6_4-2
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-75479-6
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-75479-6
eBook Packages: Springer Reference Biomedicine and Life SciencesReference Module Biomedical and Life Sciences
Publish with us
Chapter history
-
Latest
Visualizing Neurodegeneration Using Atomic Force Microscopy- Published:
- 27 April 2022
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-75479-6_4-2
-
Original
Visualizing Neurodegenaration Using Atomic Force Microscopy- Published:
- 13 November 2021
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-75479-6_4-1