Biochemical and Biophysical Characterization of Tau and α-Linolenic Acid Vesicles In Vitro

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is characterized by the abnormal accumulation of disordered protein, that is, extracellular senile plaques of amyloid-β (Aβ) and intracellular neurofibrillary tangles of Tau. Tau protein has gained the attention in recent years owing to the ability to propagate in a "prion-like" nature. The disordered protein Tau possesses a high positive charge, which allows its binding to anionic proteins and factors. The native disorder of proteins attends the β-sheet structure from its random-coiled conformation upon charge compensation by various polyanionic agents such as heparin, RNA, etc. Anionic lipids such as arachidonic acid (AA) and oleic acid (OA) are also one of the factors which can induce aggregation of Tau in physiological conditions. The free units of Tau protein can bind to lipid membranes through its repeat domain (RD), the anionic side chains of the membrane lipids induce aggregation of Tau by reducing the activation barrier. In this study, we investigated the role of α-linolenic acid (ALA) as an inducing agent for Tau aggregation in vitro conditions. Omega-3 fatty acids bear a capacity to reduce the pathology of Tau by downregulating the Tau phosphorylation pathway. We have studied by using various biochemical or biophysical methods the potency of ALA as an aggregating agent for Tau. We have implemented different techniques such as SDS-PAGE, transmission electron microscopy, CD spectroscopy to evaluated higher-order aggregates of Tau upon induction by ALA.