Amyloidogenicity and toxicity of the reverse and scrambled variants of amyloid-ß 1-42

ß-amyloid 1-42 (Aß1-42) is a self-assembling peptide that goes through many conformational and morphological changes before forming the fibrils that are deposited in extracellular plaques characteristic of Alzheimer's disease. The link between Aß1-42 structure and toxicity is of major interest, in particular, the neurotoxic potential of oligomeric species. Many studies utilise reversed (Aß42-1) and scrambled (AßS) forms of amyloid-ß as control peptides. Here, using circular dichroism, thioflavin T fluorescence and transmission electron microscopy, we reveal that both control peptides self-assemble to form fibres within 24 h. However, oligomeric Aß reduces cell survival of hippocampal neurons, while Aß42-1 and Aßs have reduced effect on cellular health, which may arise from their ability to assemble rapidly to form protofibrils and fibrils.