Synthesis, structure and nuerotoxicity of the Aβ peptide of Alzheimer's disease

Amyloid formation and the Aβ peptide are central to the neuropathology of Alzheimer's disease. This review discusses our work and related studies aimed at understanding the relationship between structure and neurotoxicity for the Aβ peptide. These studies provide information on the importance of endogenous structural variants, metal coordination, conformation, and aggregation state, to the amyloidogenicity and neurotoxicity of the Aβ peptide. Also discussed is improved methodology for the synthesis of this difficult peptide.