Amyloid-β (1-42) (Aβ42) is a neurotoxic 42-amino acid protein fragment found in amyloid plaques in postmortem cerebral cortex from patients with Alzheimer's disease.1,2,3Aggregation of Aβ42 results in the formation of neurotoxic fibrils or globular oligomers.1Aβ42 accumulates in the brain of many transgenic mouse models of Alzheimer's disease and, in many models, the onset of amyloid deposition positively correlates with deficits in spatial learning and memory.4
1.Wolfe, M.S.Therapeutic strategies for Alzheimer's diseaseNat. Rev. Drug Discov.1(11)859-866(2002) 2.Iwatsubo, T., Odaka, A., Suzuki, N., et al.Visualization of Aβ42(43) and Aβ40 in senile plaques with end-specific Aβ monoclonals: Evidence that an initially deposited species is Aβ42(43)Neuron13(1)45-53(1994) 3.Hardy, J.A., and Higgins, G.A.Alzheimer's disease: The amyloid cascade hypothesisScience256(5054)184-185(1992) 4.Jankowsky, J.L., and Zheng, H.Practical considerations for choosing a mouse model of Alzheimer's diseaseMol. Neurodegener.12(1)89(2017)