Issue 107, 2014

Inhibition of insulin amyloid fibril formation by ferulic acid, a natural compound found in many vegetables and fruits

Abstract

The highly ordered structures from the self-assembly of proteins/peptides, referred to as amyloid fibrils, are the major cause for many neurodegenerative diseases. Herein, we have analyzed the effect of ferulic acid (FA), one of the most abundant phenolic acids in plants, fruits and vegetables, on the inhibition of insulin (associated with type II diabetes) fibrillation. It was found that the amount of fibril formation was greatly reduced with increasing concentration of FA as evidenced from turbidity measurements. ThT binding experiments confirm the inhibition in which enhanced fluorescence, characteristic of amyloid fibrillation, was not observed in the presence of FA. Atomic force microscopy further confirms inhibition by FA where no typical insulin amyloid fibril has been detected. The characteristic conformational transition from α-helix to β-sheet was arrested in the presence of FA demonstrating that FA protects the native structure of insulin and thereby prevents the conformational change required for its amyloid fibril formation in vitro. The percentage of insulin fibril inhibition was found to be dependent on the concentration of FA. The current results demonstrate that FA can inhibit the insulin amyloid fibril formation and thus FA, in addition to other phenolic compounds, provides a possible therapeutic strategy to prevent or treat insulin amyloidosis.

Graphical abstract: Inhibition of insulin amyloid fibril formation by ferulic acid, a natural compound found in many vegetables and fruits

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
26 सितम्बर 2014
Accepted
10 नवम्बर 2014
First published
18 नवम्बर 2014

RSC Adv., 2014,4, 62326-62336

Inhibition of insulin amyloid fibril formation by ferulic acid, a natural compound found in many vegetables and fruits

J. Jayamani, G. Shanmugam and E. R. Azhagiya Singam, RSC Adv., 2014, 4, 62326 DOI: 10.1039/C4RA11291A

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