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Science 8 March 1996:
Vol. 271. no. 5254, p. 1341
DOI:

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This Week in Science

A characteristic symptom of Alzheimer's disease is the deposition of plaques of protein in the brain composed of beta-amyloid. beta-Amyloid is a breakdown product of a normal brain protein of unknown function, the amyloid precursor protein (APP). Multhaup et al. (p. 1406) now show that APP can reduce copper(II) ions to form a protein-copper(I) complex. The accumulation of APP in the neurons of Alzheimer's disease patients might disrupt brain copper metabolism and, together with other oxidative reactions in the brain, produce free radicals that damage the neurons further.




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