Development and Optimization of a Fluorescent Imaging System to Detect Amyloid-β Proteins: Phantom Study

Abstract

Alzheimer disease is the most common form of dementia, affecting more than 5 million people in the United States. During the progression of Alzheimer disease, a particular protein begins to accumulate in the brain and also in extensions of the brain, ie, the retina. This protein, amyloid-β (Aβ), exhibits fluorescent properties. The purpose of this research article is to explore the implications of designing a fluorescent imaging system able to detect Aβ proteins in the retina. We designed and implemented a fluorescent imaging system with a range of applications that can be reconfigured on a fluorophore to fluorophore basis and tested its feasibility and capabilities using Cy5 and CRANAD-2 imaging probes. The results indicate a promising potential for the imaging system to be used to study the Aβ biomarker. A performance evaluation involving ex vivo and in vivo experiments is planned for future study.

An Application of Simulated Annealing in Compensation of Nonlinearity of Scanners

“…As a result, the peak produced by a fast Fourier transform (FFT) of the photodetected signal is not narrow around the frequency component given by 2n/T, where T is the period of the input triangular signal and n is the number of slits in the metal plate. Our aim is to alter the shape of each ramp in the triangular signal, using an optimization algorithm [22,[28][29][30][31][32][33][34], until the photodetected signal presented maximum regularity in the succession of peaks corresponding to the beam being scanned over regularly placed empty spaces, to produce equidistant spikes, and narrow the FFT peak. The galvo-mirror is driven by a triangular signal of 5-volt peak-to-peak.…”

Optical Imaging of Beta-Amyloid Plaques in Alzheimer’s Disease

“…The results showed that Aβ levels in the retina were closely related to those in the brain and confirmed that the retina was also an area of high plaque deposition. Furthermore, in 2018, Tes et al [48] tested Cy5 and CRANAD-2 (a compound derived from curcumin) as fluorescent probes for observing the growth of plaques in the retina with a fluorescence imaging system. The result shows that CRANAD-2 is a better fluorescent probe for Aβ imaging.…”

Au nano-urchins enabled localized surface plasmon resonance sensing of beta amyloid fibrillation

“…Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and optical dye (Thioavin T and Congo Red) binding are the other techniques used for the study of kinetics of Ab 1-42 brillation. 11,12 These techniques also have disadvantages such as non-specic binding, low stability and crossreactivity. 13 As a result, these techniques are susceptible to falsepositive results.…”