Figure 5. The oligomer-conversion-assisted ultrafast-fibril elongation model.
(a)Schematic of time course of amount of deposited peptides on surface. (b)The Aβ1–40 peptides are adsorbed at surface-immobilized Aβ1–42 seeds, forming the oligomeric cloud. (c) Nuclei are generated in oligomer cloud after a long lag time. Structures of oligomers near the nuclei are affected so as to cause β-sheet structure. (d) Fibrils quickly grow from the nuclei, causing conformational conversion of oligomers into fibrils. They are guided to come at the other nuclei, where oligomer structures are ready to convert into fibrils because of strain field caused by the nuclei.