Jang Jinhyeong, Park Chan Beum
Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), 335 Science Road, Daejeon 34141, Republic of Korea.
ACS Appl Mater Interfaces. 2023 Jan 11;15(1):48-56. doi: 10.1021/acsami.2c09601. Epub 2022 Aug 4.
Minerals in the Earth's crust have contributed to the natural functioning of ecosystems via biogeochemical interactions. Linnaeite is a cobalt sulfide mineral with a cubic spinel structure that promotes charge transfer reactions with its surroundings. Here we report the hidden feature of linnaeite mineral to dissociate Alzheimer's β-amyloid (Aβ) oligomers under near-infrared (NIR) light irradiation. Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disorder caused by the abnormal accumulation of self-assembled Aβ peptides in the elderly brain. The β-sheet structured pore-forming Aβ oligomer (βPFO) is the most neurotoxic species exacerbating the symptoms of AD. However, a therapeutic agent that is capable of inactivating βPFO has not yet been developed. Our microscopic and spectroscopic analysis results have revealed that NIR-excited linnaeite mineral can modulate the structure of βPFO by inducing oxidative modifications. We have verified that linnaeite mineral is biocompatible with and has a mitigating effect on the neurotoxicity of βPFO. This study suggests that minerals in nature have potential as drugs to reduce AD pathology.
地壳中的矿物质通过生物地球化学相互作用对生态系统的自然功能发挥了作用。硫钴矿是一种具有立方尖晶石结构的硫化钴矿物，能促进与其周围环境的电荷转移反应。在此，我们报告硫钴矿在近红外（NIR）光照射下解离阿尔茨海默病β-淀粉样蛋白（Aβ）寡聚体的隐藏特性。阿尔茨海默病（AD）是一种神经退行性疾病，由老年大脑中自组装Aβ肽的异常积累引起。β-折叠结构的成孔Aβ寡聚体（βPFO）是加剧AD症状的最具神经毒性的物质。然而，尚未开发出能够使βPFO失活的治疗剂。我们的显微镜和光谱分析结果表明，近红外激发的硫钴矿矿物可通过诱导氧化修饰来调节βPFO的结构。我们已经证实硫钴矿矿物与βPFO具有生物相容性，并对其神经毒性有减轻作用。这项研究表明，自然界中的矿物质具有作为减轻AD病理的药物的潜力。
