Imaging Alzheimer's disease-related protein aggregates in human cells using a selenium label

The aberrant folding and subsequent aggregation of proteins and peptides is associated with a range of pathological conditions from the systemic amyloidoses to neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases. While this link is well established there is a lack of understanding of the exact role protein aggregates play in disease pathogenesis. Part of the reason for this is that it has proved extremely challenging to characterise the localisation and structure of amyloid fibrils within the cellular environment due to a lack of contrast between the carbon rich protein aggregates and the carbon rich cell. We report a novel method for visualising Alzheimer's disease-related amyloid fibrils inside human cells without the use of invasive or unreliable stains or tags. The naturally occurring sulfur atom in the amyloid-β peptide is replaced with a selenium atom, a heavier element in the same group of the periodic table of elements. Using high angle annular dark field (HAADF) in a scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM) the selenium-labelled aggregates can be identified within the cellular environment.