FIGURE 7.

Schematic model of amyloid development from native proteins. Native proteins undergo transient misfolding under low pH condition. The misfolded or partially unfolded monomers aggregate, which is stabilized by EDC crosslinking in vitro. The resulting oligomers exhibit cytotoxic effects and adopt a conformational structure (A11+) that is commonly found in prefibrillar oligomers. These oligomers can proceed rapidly to form fibrous amyloid in the presence of nucleic acids or GAGs or develop into off-pathway aggregates by binding with EGCG.