Measured collagen fibril response to arterial inflation using SAXS

Supramolecular arrangements in human amyloid tissues using SAXS

Amyloid diseases are characterized by the accumulation of misfolded protein aggregates in human tissues, pose significant challenges for both diagnosis and treatment. Protein aggregations known as amyloids are linked to several neurodegenerative conditions including Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, and systemic amyloidosis. The key goal of this research is to employ Small-Angle X-ray Scattering (SAXS) to examine the supramolecular structures of amyloid aggregates in human tissues. We present the structural analysis of amyloid using SAXS, which is employed directly to analyze thin tissue samples without damaging the tissues. This technique provides size and shape information of fibrils, which can be used to generate low-resolution 2D models. The present study investigates the structural changes in amyloid fibril axial d-spacing and scattering intensity in different human tissues, including kidney, heart, thyroid, and others, while also accounting for the presence of triglycerides in these tissues. Tissue structural components were examined at momentum transfer values between q = 0.2 nm-1 and 1.5 nm-1. The d-spacing is a critical parameter in SAXS that provides information about the periodic distances between structures within a sample. From the supramolecular SAXS patterns, the axial d-spacing of fibrils in amyloid tissues is prominent and exists within the 3rd to 10th order, compared to that of healthy tissues which do not have notable peak orders. The axial period of fibrils in amyloid tissues is within the scattering vector range 57.40-64.64 nm-1 while in normal tissues the range is between 60.68 and 61.41 nm-1, which is 3.0 nm-1 smaller than amyloid-containing tissues. Differences in d-spacing are often correlate with distinct pathological mechanisms or stages of disease progression. The application of SAXS to investigate amyloid structures in human tissues has enormous potential to further knowledge of amyloid disorders. This work will open the path for novel diagnostic instruments and therapeutic strategies meant to reduce the burden of amyloid-related diseases by offering a thorough structural examination of amyloid aggregates.

A review: Exploring the metabolic and structural characterisation of beta pleated amyloid fibril in human tissue using Raman spectrometry and SAXS

Amyloidosis is a deleterious condition caused by abnormal amyloid fibril build-up in living tissues. To date, 42 proteins that are linked to amyloid fibrils have been discovered. Amyloid fibril structure variation can affect the severity, progression rate, or clinical symptoms of amyloidosis. Since amyloid fibril build-up is the primary pathological basis for various neurodegenerative illnesses, characterization of these deadly proteins, particularly utilising optical techniques have been a focus. Spectroscopy techniques provide significant non-invasive platforms for the investigation of the structure and conformation of amyloid fibrils, offering a wide spectrum of analyses ranging from nanometric to micrometric size scales. Even though this area of study has been intensively explored, there still remain aspects of amyloid fibrillization that are not fully known, a matter hindering progress in treating and curing amyloidosis. This review aims to provide recent updates and comprehensive information on optical techniques for metabolic and proteomic characterization of β-pleated amyloid fibrils found in human tissue with thorough literature analysis of publications. Raman spectroscopy and SAXS are well established experimental methods for study of structural properties of biomaterials. With suitable models, they offer extended information for valid proteomic analysis under physiologically relevant conditions. This review points to evidence that despite limitations, these techniques are able to provide for the necessary output and proteomics indication in order to extrapolate the aetiology of amyloid fibrils for reliable diagnostic purposes. Our metabolic database may also contribute to elucidating the nature and function of the amyloid proteome in development and clearance of amyloid diseases.

Engineering collagen fiber templates with oriented nanoarchitecture and concerns on osteoblast behaviors

Nanostructure provides a closer structural support approximation to native bone architecture for cells and further regulates cell's behavior, resulting in the formation of functional tissues. In this work, three engineering collagen templates with oriented fiber architectures were fabricated via electrospinning (Es), plastic compression and tensile (PCT), and dynamic shear stress (SS) methods. Under the observation of POM, SEM, AFM and TEM, the PCT-template and SS-template are packed with well-oriented nanofibers with the native collagen architecture of 67 nm D-periodicity, and the mechanical properties conferred to the templates are better than that of the Es-template. When mentioning the cell's behavior, MC3T3-E1 adhered to grow along the alignment of collagen fiber orientation when cultured on the PCT-template and SS-template. The SS-template with nano- and micro-ordered architecture guided cells to stretch their plasma along with the orientation of collagen fiber, produce more aligned Type I collagen fibers and promote significantly higher osteogenic differentiation of MC3T3-E1 than the PCT-template and Es-template. Overall, it is strongly argued the feasibility of hierarchical collagen fiber architectures for bone tissue regeneration.