Fig. 1.

Schematic representation of the kinetics of amyloid formation. Amyloid formation is characterised by an initial lag phase in which monomeric species nucleate and form oligomeric species followed by a growth phase of fibril formation, which occurs through elongation and secondary events (fragmentation and/or secondary nucleation). A plateau is reached when amyloid formation is in a steady state as free monomers (i.e. protein molecules) are no longer available.