Method for detecting oligermization of soluble amyloid beta oligomers
The present invention relates to the assay, analysis, and characterization of soluble amyloid beta oligomers, as well as the characterization of inhibitors of soluble amyloid beta oligomer assembly. In particular, the present invention is a method for detecting assembly of soluble amyloid beta oligomers via a combination of fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) or time-resolved FRET and fluorescence polarization (FP).
1 . A method for detecting assembly of soluble amyloid beta oligomers comprising contacting a FRET-donor labeled amyloid beta subunit with a FRET-acceptor labeled amyloid beta subunit and measuring fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) and fluorescence polarization (FP) of the subunits thereby detecting assembly of soluble amyloid beta oligomers.
2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the contacting step is carried out in the presence of one or more inhibitors.
3 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the FRET is time-resolved FRET (TR-FRET).
4 . A method for identifying, assaying, analyzing, and characterizing inhibitors of the assembly of soluble amyloid beta oligomers comprising contacting a FRET-donor labeled amyloid beta subunit with a FRET-acceptor labeled amyloid beta subunit in the presence of a test agent and measuring fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) and fluorescence polarization (FP) of the subunits thereby identifying, assaying, analyzing, and characterizing inhibitors of the assembly of one or more soluble amyloid beta oligomers.
5 . The method of claim 4 , wherein the FRET is time-resolved FRET (TR-FRET).