DALLAS, April 2 -- Alzheimer's disease is a progressive and common neurodegenerative disorder with widespread brain destruction and no cure. Fourteen research papers on Alzheimer's disease and related issues will be presented here this week at the national meeting of the American Chemical Society, world's largest scientific society.

DESIGNING BETA-AMYLOID PLAQUE INHIBITORS IN ALZHEIMER'S DISEASE
With the aid of high-powered instruments, researchers at Case Western Reserve University may have found the first step in the formation of toxic plaque believed responsible for the destruction of neurons in the brains of Alzheimer's patients. According to Michael G. Zagorski, Ph.D., this information could be used to design drugs that might prevent either this initial step or its continuation into Alzheimer's disease. A sequence of 40 to 42 amino acids, a so-called beta-peptide, is the major protein component that eventually aggregates and precipitates as plaque -- an insoluble amyloid deposit -- in the brains of Alzheimer's patients. The Case Western Reserve team has used nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and a technique called circular dichroism to see what happens as the beta-peptide, which is originally soluble in water, slowly changes into the insoluble plaque that is toxic to cells. The first step in this process, which may be triggered by a changing biochemistry as one ages, has now been determined to be the formation of extended chain-like structures that fold back on themselves to form the toxic structure.

Paper MEDI 211 will be presented by Michael G. Zagorski from 2:55 to 3:35 p.m., Thurs., April 2, in the Convention Center Ballroom A IV, Level 3.

'MOPPING IT ALL UP': A PLAQUE-ATTACK ON ALZHEIMER'S DISEASE
At Queen's University and Neurochem, Inc. in Kingston, Ontario, Canada, scientists have found about 100 small organic molecules that bind to the beta-peptide implicated in Alzh
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Contact: Jim Bohning
j_bohning@acs.org
202-872-6041
American Chemical Society
2-Apr-1998