Separation of Alzheimer's disease biomarkers using a nanoparticle pseudostationary phase in capillary electrophoresis

Alzheimer's Disease (AD) is the most common form of senile dementia and affects millions of people worldwide. Patients with AD suffer from progressive memory loss that is caused by the loss of neurons and synapses in the portions of the brain responsible for memory and cognitive ability. AD is characterized by the formation of senile plaques made mostly of the Amyloid Beta peptide and neurofibrillary tangles consisting of the Tau protein. The onset of AD seems to be correlated with changes in the concentrations of the Amyloid Beta peptides and the Tau protein. The relative concentrations of Abeta 42 to Abeta40 and the total amount of Tau can be used as biomarkers for the early detection of AD. A fast, multianalyte analysis of these biomarkers could provide useful information in the diagnosis of the disease as well as a means of tracking disease progression. Capillary electrophoresis is a fast separations technique that allows for the separation of analyte based on the size to charge ratio. This technique coupled with laser-induced fluorescence is capable of picomolar limits of detection. This study focuses on a novel functionalized gold nanoparticle enhanced capillary electrophoresis technique for the separation and quantitation these Alzheimer's Disease biomarkers.