Enhanced cytotoxicity of amyloid beta-peptide by a complement dependent mechanism

Amyloid beta-peptide (A beta) has been shown to activate the classical complement pathway in vitro. Here, we demonstrate that this interaction is fully capable of killing cells and damaging cellular processes in mixed hippocampal cultures from embryonic day 18 rat fetuses. Lactic acid dehydrogenase (LDH) release and morphologic changes were used to evaluate toxicity.