Study the structural polymorphism in the brain tissues from Alzheimer's disease

The proposed work will apply x-ray scanning micro-diffraction (μXRD) and x-ray micro fluorescence imaging (μXRF) to histological sections of human brain tissue to map the distribution of fibrillar aggregates of these proteins and the correlated abnormal deposition of specific elements in or around plaques and tangles. We have performed μXRD and μXRF on a section of Dentate Gyrus of a subject diagnosed with Pick’s disease. These data have provided significant information on the distribution of fibrillar polymorphs among different plaques and tangles. Our results show that μXRD could identify the fibrillar and oligomeric tau deposition. By correlating μXRD to μXRF, the elements, like phosphate and sulfur, exhibit a strong corelation to fibrillar tau. To complete our characterization of the pathological pathway of Tau pathology, we propose to measure six brain regions from three patients at different stages of disease by μXRF at ID21 and μXRD at ID13.