Issue 31, 2023

Blocking tau transmission by biomimetic graphene nanoparticles

Abstract

Tauopathies are a class of neurodegenerative diseases resulting in cognitive dysfunction, executive dysfunction, and motor disturbance. The primary pathological feature of tauopathies is the presence of neurofibrillary tangles in the brain composed of tau protein aggregates. Moreover, tau aggregates can spread from neuron to neuron and lead to the propagation of tau pathology. Although numerous small molecules are known to inhibit tau aggregation and block tau cell-to-cell transmission, it is still challenging to use them for therapeutic applications due to poor specificity and low blood-brain barrier (BBB) penetration. Graphene nanoparticles were previously demonstrated to penetrate the BBB and are amenable to functionalization for targeted delivery. Moreover, these nanoscale biomimetic particles can self-assemble or assemble with various biomolecules including proteins. In this paper, we show that graphene quantum dots (GQDs), as graphene nanoparticles, block the seeding activity of tau fibrils by inhibiting the fibrillization of monomeric tau and triggering the disaggregation of tau filaments. This behavior is attributed to electrostatic and π–π stacking interactions of GQDs with tau. Overall, our studies indicate that GQDs with biomimetic properties can efficiently inhibit and disassemble pathological tau aggregates, and thus block tau transmission, which supports their future developments as a potential treatment for tauopathies.

Graphical abstract: Blocking tau transmission by biomimetic graphene nanoparticles

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
16 Apr 2023
Accepted
03 Jul 2023
First published
04 Jul 2023

J. Mater. Chem. B, 2023,11, 7378-7388

Blocking tau transmission by biomimetic graphene nanoparticles

R. Zhu, K. M. Makwana, Y. Zhang, B. H. Rajewski, J. R. Del Valle and Y. Wang, J. Mater. Chem. B, 2023, 11, 7378 DOI: 10.1039/D3TB00850A

To request permission to reproduce material from this article, please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

If you are an author contributing to an RSC publication, you do not need to request permission provided correct acknowledgement is given.

If you are the author of this article, you do not need to request permission to reproduce figures and diagrams provided correct acknowledgement is given. If you want to reproduce the whole article in a third-party publication (excluding your thesis/dissertation for which permission is not required) please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

Read more about how to correctly acknowledge RSC content.

Social activity

Spotlight

Advertisements