Alzheimer's Disease: Methods and Protocols

A panel of highly skilled investigators describe in detail their state-of-the-art biochemical, cell biological, and molecular biological techniques for studying the molecular basis of Alzheimer's disease. These readily reproducible, step-by-step methods focus on work with the amyloid precursor protein and the amyloidogenic peptide Aß, but also include-with the recent identification of presenilin proteins-techniques for determining the structure and biological function of these proteins. In addition, there are chapters covering the tau protein and its role in Alzheimer's disease, as well as an introductory discussion of the history of the disease, its genetic basis, and the currently available and possible future therapeutic agents. Cutting-edge and wide ranging, Alzheimer's Disease: Methods and Protocols provides ready access to proven, reproducible methods for elucidating the molecular basis of this most common senile dementia.

Table of contents
Introduction to Alzheimer's Disease, David Allsop. The Genetics of Alzheimer's Disease, Nick Brindle and Peter St. George-Hyslop. Advances in Methodology and Current Prospects for Primary Drug Therapies for Alzheimer's Disease, David S. Knopman. Production and Functional Assays of Recombinant Secreted Amyloid Precursor Protein (APP) (sAPPa), Steven W. Barger. Quantifying Ab1-40 and Ab1-42 Using Sandwich-ELISA, Daniel M. Skovronsky, Jun Wang, Virginia M.-Y. Lee, and Robert W. Doms. Electrophoretic Separation and Immunoblotting of Ab1-40 and Ab1-42 Matthias Staufenbiel and Paolo A. Paganetti. Ab-Induced Proinflammatory Cytokine Release from Differentiated Human THP-1 Monocytes, Kurt R. Brunden, June Kocsis-Angle, Paula Embury, and Stephen L. Yates. Effects of the b-Amyloid Peptide on Membrane Ion Permeability, Hugh A. Pearson. Analysis of b-Amyloid Peptide Degradation In Vitro, Barbara Cordell and Asha Naidu. Posttranslational Modifications of the Amyloid Precursor Protein: Ectodomain Phosphorylation and Sulfation, Jochen Walter and Christian Haass. Posttranslational Modifications of the Amyloid Precursor Protein: Glycosylation, Chen Liu, Tomasz Rozmyslowicz, Magda Stwora-Wojczyk, Boguslaw Wojczyk, and Steven L. Spitalnik. Using an Amyloid Precursor Protein (APP) Reporter to Characterize a-Secretase, Susan Boseman Roberts. Inhibition of a-Secretase by Zinc Metalloproteinase Inhibitors, S. Parvathy, Anthony J. Turner, and Nigel M. Hooper. Development of Neoepitope Antibodies Against the b-Secretase Cleavage Site in the Amyloid Precursor Protein Carol W. Gray and Eric H. Karran. b-Secretase: Tissue Culture Studies of Sequence Specificity, Inhibitors, and Candidate Enzymes, Martin Citron. Using g-Secretase Inhibitors to Distiguish the Generation of the Ab Peptides Terminating at Val-40 and Ala-42, Paolo A. Paganetti and Matthia Staufenbiel. Designing Animal Models of Alzheimer's Disease with Amyloid Precursor Protein (APP) Transgenes, Jeanne F. Loring. Phosphorylation of Amyloid Precursor Protein (APP) Family Proteins, Toshiharu Suzuki, Kanae Ando, Ko-ichi Iijima, Shinobu Oguchi, and Shizu Takeda. Determining the Transmembrane Topology of the Presenilins, Gopal Thinakaran and Andrew Doan. Normal Proteolytic Processing of the Presenilins, Henrike Hartmann and Bruce A. Yankner. Apoptotic Proteolytic Cleavage of the Presenilins by Caspases, Tae-Wan Kim. The Phosphorylation of Presenilin Proteins, Jochen Walter. Interaction of the Presenilins with the Amyloid Precursor Protein (APP), Andreas Weidemann, Krzysztof Paliga, Ulrike Dürrwang, Friedrich Reinhard, Dai Zhang, Rupert Sandbrink, Geneviève Evin, Colin L. Masters, and Konrad Beyreuther. Distribution of Presenilins and Amyloid Precursor Protein (APP) in Detergent-Insoluble Membrane Domains, Edward T. Parkin, Anthony J. Turner and Nigel M. Hooper. Characterization and Use of Monoclonal Antibodies to Tau and Paired Helical Filament Tau, Peter Davies. Tau Phosphorylation Both In Vitro and in Cells. C. Hugh Reynolds, Graham M. Gibb, and Simon Lovestone. Transglutaminase-Catalyzed Formation of Alzheimer-Like Insoluble Complexes from Recombinant Tau, Brian J. Balin and Denah M. Appelt. Index.