Mechanisms of Ultrasonically Induced Fibrillation of Amyloid β_1–40 Peptides

We systematically study the relationship between the ultrasonically induced aggregation behavior of amyloid β_1–40 peptide and acoustic pressures to clarify the dominant mechanism of the aggregation. With ultrasonic irradiation, the thioflavin-T (ThT) level of the Aβ solution rises after a lag time, takes a maximum at ∼5 h, and remains unchanged or decreases. Thus, we monitor the ThT level at 5 h to evaluate the progress of the β-sheet structure and investigate its correlation with the acoustic pressures of fundamental and harmonics waves. The second-harmonics-wave amplitude shows the highest correlation with the ThT level, indicating the dominant contribution of cavitation bubbles to the fibrillation phenomenon. The influence of solution pH and Ar gas are investigated to identify the aggregation mechanism. As a result, local condensation of the peptide due to the high affinity of hydrophobic residues to the bubble-solution interface causes a highly supersaturated solution, leading to precipitation of β-sheet-rich nuclei.