Background
β-Amyloid is a protein fragment that aggregates to form amyloid plaques found in the brains of individuals with Alzheimer's disease. In healthy individuals, β-amyloid is typically cleared from the brain. However, in certain neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer's disease, β-amyloid can accumulate and aggregate, forming amyloid plaques.
In the case of Alzheimer's, these plaques are thought to contribute to neuronal dysfunction and death, leading to cognitive impairment and memory loss. Understanding the mechanisms underlying β-amyloid production, aggregation, and clearance is crucial for elucidating the pathogenesis of Alzheimer's disease and developing potential therapeutic interventions.
How We Study β-Amyloid
β-Amyloid Imaging and Segmentation
Translucence Biosystems employs our modified iDISCO+ tissue clearing protocol to render intact samples optically transparent, and visualize β-amyloid plaques across the whole brain.
Translucence then employs our Translucence Teravoxel ToolKit (3TK), a part of our VoxelsTM software, to segment β-amyloid plaques in Alzheimer's disease 5xFAD model mouse brains. Segmenting of the plaques using AI-powered workflows allows us to pull out metrics of intensity, shape, density, and size.
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Brain-wide Quantification of β-Amyloid Plaques
With the help of The Translucence Teravoxel ToolKit (3TK) within our VoxelsTM software, we can computationally warp each brain and its segmented β-amyloid to the Allen Reference Brain to examine β-amyloid metrics across hundreds of brain regions. With this computational warping, we are able to generate heatmaps to show the spatial distribution and density of β-amyloid plaques. This data provides insights into the regional patterns of amyloid deposition and can be used to compare plaque density among different experimental conditions or disease models.
Data generated from our VoxelsTM software provides actionable insights into the density and distribution of plaques in 5xFAD mice and can help inform the development of novel therapeutic strategies.
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Summary
Leveraging tissue clearing, light sheet imaging, and AI-powered quantification, Translucence Biosystems can provide comprehensive insights into β-amyloid distribution and aggregation involved in Alzheimer's disease and related neurodegenerative disorders.
