Fibrillar aggregates of the islet amyloid polypeptide (IAPP) and amyloid-β (Aβ) are known to deposit at pancreatic β-cells and neuronal cells, and are associated with the cell degenerative diseases type-2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and Alzheimer's disease (AD), respectively. Since IAPP is secreted by β-cells and a membrane damaging effect of IAPP has been discussed as a reason for β-cell dysfunction and the development of T2DM, studies of the interaction of IAPP with the β-cell membrane are of high relevance for gaining a molecular level understanding of the underlying mechanism. Recently, it has also been shown that patients suffering from T2DM exhibit an increased risk to develop Alzheimer's disease and vice versa, and a molecular link between AD and T2DM has been suggested. In this study, membrane lipids from the rat insulinoma-derived INS-1E β-cell line were isolated and their interaction with the amyloidogenic peptides IAPP, Aβ, and a mixture of both peptides has been studied.
To yield insight into the associated peptides' conformational changes as well as into their effect on the membrane integrity during aggregation, ATR-FTIR spectroscopy, fluorescence microscopy, and AFM experiments have been carried out. The IAPP-Aβ heterocomplexes formed were shown to adsorb, aggregate, and permeabilize the isolated β-cell membrane significantly slower than pure IAPP, however, at a rate that is much faster than that of pure Aβ. In addition, it could be shown that isolated β-cell membranes cause similar effects on the kinetics of IAPP and IAPP-Aβ fibril formation as anionic heterogeneous model membranes.