Pyro-Glu Abeta

A major component of neuritic plaques in Alzheimer's disease

General Information

Amyloid deposits, also called plaques, of Alzheimer's patients consist of several protein components like the amyloid beta-peptides (Abeta) 1-40/42 and additional C- and N-terminally modified fragments. Very abundant are the isoaspartate (isoAsp)-Abeta and pyroglutamyl (pGlu)-Abeta peptides. The latter is formed by cyclization of the N-terminal glutamate at position 3 catalyzed by glutaminyl cyclase (QC) resulting in a very amyloidogenic and neurotxic variant of Abeta.
In contrast to extracellular plaques that do not perfectly correlate with Alzheimer´s disease intraneuronal Abeta accumulation and vascular Abeta deposits have gained more and more evidence to be among the crucial factors responsible for progressive neuron loss.