Salajková Zita, Barolo Lorenzo, Baiocco Paola, Ruzicka Barbara, Mura Francesco, Di Lorenzo Francesco, Boffi Alberto, Ricco Vincenzo, Ruocco Giancarlo, Leonetti Marco
Center for Life Nano- and Neuro-Science, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, Viale Regina Elena 291, 00161, Rome, Italy.
D-Tails s.r.l. BCorp, Via di Torre Rossa, 66, 00165, Rome, Italy.
Sci Rep. 2025 Mar 6;15(1):7792. doi: 10.1038/s41598-025-92565-w.
Fibrillated Tau proteins are believed to be a signature of Alzheimer's disease (AD) and may be potentially employed as a biosensor for AD early detection. Several studies revealed the presence of Tau accumulation and aggregation in the retina, similar to that observed in the brains of individuals with AD. These retinal changes can be non-invasively visualised through AD-related scores derived from reflectance measurements of the patient fundus. However, a direct link with the optical properties of fibrillated protein clusters is still lacking. Here, we present a new optical technique which measures the scattering optical properties of protein fibrils. Our experimental findings show that the scattering intensity of Tau has a wavelength dependence correlated to their size. The optical signal qualitatively replicates the spectral signature observed in human AD patient retinas. Our paper shows that the Tau protein spectral signature is compatible with the distinctive spectral signature of the AD, further confirming that retinal investigation is a promising tool.
原纤维状tau蛋白被认为是阿尔茨海默病（AD）的一个标志，并且有可能被用作AD早期检测的生物传感器。多项研究揭示了视网膜中tau蛋白的积累和聚集现象，这与AD患者大脑中观察到的情况相似。通过对患者眼底反射率测量得出的与AD相关的评分，可以非侵入性地观察到这些视网膜变化。然而，与原纤维状蛋白簇的光学特性仍缺乏直接联系。在此，我们提出一种新的光学技术，用于测量蛋白质原纤维的散射光学特性。我们的实验结果表明，tau蛋白的散射强度具有与其大小相关的波长依赖性。该光学信号定性地复制了在人类AD患者视网膜中观察到的光谱特征。我们的论文表明，tau蛋白光谱特征与AD独特的光谱特征相符，进一步证实了视网膜研究是一种很有前景的工具。
