Nanoscopic Portrait of an Amyloidogenic Pathway Visualized through Tip-Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy

Inroads into understanding the process by which amyloid proteins become toxic have been hampered by the lack of experimental techniques that adequately resolve the process. Recently, tip-enhanced Raman spectroscopy, with its unique capability to spectroscopically image and chemically identify reaction mixtures with nanoscale precision, was used to obtain a high-resolution roadmap of the soluble-to-toxic conversion of amyloid beta. This technique opens the door for studying the toxic aggregation pathways of other amyloid proteins and spurs efforts devoted to prophylactic and therapeutic intervention in neurodegenerative and protein-misfolding-related disorders.