UNIVERSITY OF MALTA
LIFE SCIENCE RESEARCH SEMINARS
Web: http://events.um.edu.mt/scisem/
Email: scisem@um.edu.mt
Abstract form
Title: Identification of natural polyphenols acting as inhibitors of amyloid
beta-derived cellular damage
Presenter: Rachel Cremona
Contact address:
Tel: (+356) 79860226
Fax:
Email: rachel@icpconcepts.com
Presentation date: 14th December 2009
Abstract
Alzheimer’s disease is an incurable, degenerative and terminal disease that is generally
prevalent in the elderly population.
Research has provided evidence for a common mechanism of neurodegeneration whereby
misfolding, aggregation and accumulation of otherwise normal proteins occurs in the brain.
The proteins involved and the location of accumulation produce the varying clinical features
for each of the neurodegenerative diseases. For this study the protein selected is the amyloidβ which is one of the three pathological signatures of Alzheimer’s Disease.
One of the proposed mechanisms for Aβ neurotoxicity is membrane disruption and
depolarization by permeabilization of the membrane, resulting in a change of ion
homeostasis and deregulation of cellular signal transduction, leading to cell death.
This research study forms part of a large-scale project. The main deliverables being:
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Establish a cell culturing protocol for SH-SY5Y
Cytotoxicity screening of polyphenols and plant extracts on SH-SY5Y
Identification of the most consistently potent compounds by comparing cytotoxicity
results with those obtained from liposome permeabilization assay.
Establish and optimize the cytotoxic assay to obtain required toxicity of pre-aggregated
peptides
Identify the minimum concentration of amyloid-β to induce this cytotoxicity on the
neuroblastoma cell line.
Application of the selected polyphenols/extracts and amyloid-β using varying
combination sequences to determine protective, inhibiting/arresting or reversing function
of the plant compounds.
Considering the increased prevalence rate of such diseases, especially in the growing aging
population, research into possible therapy would have major medical, social and economic
implications.