The abnormal accumulation of copper ions is considered to be one of the pathological factors of Alzheimer's disease, but the internal relationship between Cu and Alzheimer's disease progression is still not fully clear.
In this work, a sensitive and selective near-infrared fluorescent copper ion probe was designed for quantification and visualization of Cu level in lysates, living cells, living zebrafish and brain tissues of drosophila and mice with Alzheimer's disease.
By using this probe, the authors demonstrated that the content of Cu in the brains of Alzheimer's disease mice and drosophila enhanced nearly 3.5-fold and 4-fold than that of normal mice and drosophila, respectively.
More importantly, pathogenesis analysis revealed that elevated Cu led to changes in factors closely associated with Alzheimer's disease, such as the increasing of reactive oxygen species, the aggregation of amyloid-β protein and nerve cell cytotoxicity.
These findings could promote the understanding of the roles between Cu and Alzheimer's disease.