Heterotropic Modulation of Amylin Fibrillation by Small Molecules: Implications for Formulative Designs

Control of amylin agglomeration is of interest for both the study of pathophysiology and the design of amylin-based pharmaceutical products. Here we report the effects of a large set of common buffering agents, aminoacids and nucleoside phosphates over the amylin amyloid aggregation. Circular dichroism showed no apparent effects of the co-solutes over the secondary-structure of soluble amylin. Instead, we found a large dependence of the fibrillation process on the total amount of co-solute charged groups. The amyloid nature of the aggregates was confirmed by transmission electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction and infrared spectroscopy. While acidic pH and low-ionic co-solutes shows the largest size effect in hampering aggregation, no further effect was observed that could identify a single compound as a major direct heterotropic determinants of the amyloid process. These data suggest a more physico-chemical effect of co-solutes over the modulation of amylin instead of a chemical entity-related causal factor.