Metal-Peptide Complexes to Study Neurodegenerative Diseases

Dishomeostasis of Cu(II) ions in the human body is connected with several serious diseases such as Alzheimer's disease or Wilson's disease. Therefore, a deep understanding of Cu(II)-binding properties to metal ions carriers, together with the knowledge about how they can interact with other copper-binding partners, e.g., amyloid-β (Aβ), is required to assess their relevance to the brain metal homeostasis. Ultraviolet-visible spectrometry (UV-Vis) and circular dichroism (CD) were used to study the coordination characteristics of Cu(II) with peptide containing the amino-terminal (H₂N-Xaa-Yaa-His-) copper-binding (ATCUN) motif (Aβ12-16-VHHQK-NH₂) derived from Aβ peptide.