PAIRED HELICAL FILAMENTS ARE TWISTED RIBBONS COMPOSED OF 2 PARALLEL AND ALIGNED COMPONENTS - IMAGE-RECONSTRUCTION AND MODELING OF FILAMENT STRUCTURE USING ATOMIC-FORCE MICROSCOPY
Ms. Pollanen et al., PAIRED HELICAL FILAMENTS ARE TWISTED RIBBONS COMPOSED OF 2 PARALLEL AND ALIGNED COMPONENTS - IMAGE-RECONSTRUCTION AND MODELING OF FILAMENT STRUCTURE USING ATOMIC-FORCE MICROSCOPY, Journal of neuropathology and experimental neurology, 56(1), 1997, pp. 79-85
To study the structure of Alzheimer paired helical filaments (PHF) we
examined isolated detergent-insoluble PHF using atomic force microscop
y with image reconstruction. The reconstructed AFM images of Alzheimer
PHF most closely resembled ribbon-like helices with thin edges. The p
resence of a conspicuous furrow in the PHF midline indicated that PHF
were composed of two distinctive strands. Our present conception of th
e overall configuration of PHF is consistent with that proposed by Cro
wther and Wischik in 1985 but includes an essential component of the p
revailing model: the presence of two strands. Thus, our new model of P
HF structure, based on atomic force microscopy-derived data, indicates
that the true structure of PHF is actually a hybrid of the prevailing
PHF model and a thin helical ribbon.