Morphometric and Nanomechanical Screening of Peripheral Blood Cells with Atomic Force Microscopy for Label-Free Assessment of Alzheimer’s Disease, Parkinson’s Disease, and Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis
Neurodegenerative disorders (NDDs) are complex, multifactorial disorders with significant social and economic impact in today’s society. NDDs are predicted to become the second-most common cause of death in the next few decades due to an increase in life expectancy but also to a lack of early diagno...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2023-09-01
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| Series: | International Journal of Molecular Sciences |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/1422-0067/24/18/14296 |
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| author | Stefka G. Taneva Svetla Todinova Tonya Andreeva |
| author_facet | Stefka G. Taneva Svetla Todinova Tonya Andreeva |
| author_sort | Stefka G. Taneva |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Neurodegenerative disorders (NDDs) are complex, multifactorial disorders with significant social and economic impact in today’s society. NDDs are predicted to become the second-most common cause of death in the next few decades due to an increase in life expectancy but also to a lack of early diagnosis and mainly symptomatic treatment. Despite recent advances in diagnostic and therapeutic methods, there are yet no reliable biomarkers identifying the complex pathways contributing to these pathologies. The development of new approaches for early diagnosis and new therapies, together with the identification of non-invasive and more cost-effective diagnostic biomarkers, is one of the main trends in NDD biomedical research. Here we summarize data on peripheral biomarkers, biofluids (cerebrospinal fluid and blood plasma), and peripheral blood cells (platelets (PLTs) and red blood cells (RBCs)), reported so far for the three most common NDDs—Alzheimer’s disease (AD), Parkinson’s disease (PD), and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). PLTs and RBCs, beyond their primary physiological functions, are increasingly recognized as valuable sources of biomarkers for NDDs. Special attention is given to the morphological and nanomechanical signatures of PLTs and RBCs as biophysical markers for the three pathologies. Modifications of the surface nanostructure and morphometric and nanomechanical signatures of PLTs and RBCs from patients with AD, PD, and ALS have been revealed by atomic force microscopy (AFM). AFM is currently experiencing rapid and widespread adoption in biomedicine and clinical medicine, in particular for early diagnostics of various medical conditions. AFM is a unique instrument without an analog, allowing the generation of three-dimensional cell images with extremely high spatial resolution at near-atomic scale, which are complemented by insights into the mechanical properties of cells and subcellular structures. Data demonstrate that AFM can distinguish between the three pathologies and the normal, healthy state. The specific PLT and RBC signatures can serve as biomarkers in combination with the currently used diagnostic tools. We highlight the strong correlation of the morphological and nanomechanical signatures between RBCs and PLTs in PD, ALS, and AD. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-10T22:39:06Z |
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| issn | 1661-6596 1422-0067 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-10T22:39:06Z |
| publishDate | 2023-09-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | International Journal of Molecular Sciences |
| spelling | doaj.art-4f7cdba5c08a4f6097a74e68584e059c2023-11-19T11:10:41ZengMDPI AGInternational Journal of Molecular Sciences1661-65961422-00672023-09-0124181429610.3390/ijms241814296Morphometric and Nanomechanical Screening of Peripheral Blood Cells with Atomic Force Microscopy for Label-Free Assessment of Alzheimer’s Disease, Parkinson’s Disease, and Amyotrophic Lateral SclerosisStefka G. Taneva0Svetla Todinova1Tonya Andreeva2Institute of Biophysics and Biomedical Engineering, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, “Acad. G. Bontchev” Str. 21, 1113 Sofia, BulgariaInstitute of Biophysics and Biomedical Engineering, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, “Acad. G. Bontchev” Str. 21, 1113 Sofia, BulgariaInstitute of Biophysics and Biomedical Engineering, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, “Acad. G. Bontchev” Str. 21, 1113 Sofia, BulgariaNeurodegenerative disorders (NDDs) are complex, multifactorial disorders with significant social and economic impact in today’s society. NDDs are predicted to become the second-most common cause of death in the next few decades due to an increase in life expectancy but also to a lack of early diagnosis and mainly symptomatic treatment. Despite recent advances in diagnostic and therapeutic methods, there are yet no reliable biomarkers identifying the complex pathways contributing to these pathologies. The development of new approaches for early diagnosis and new therapies, together with the identification of non-invasive and more cost-effective diagnostic biomarkers, is one of the main trends in NDD biomedical research. Here we summarize data on peripheral biomarkers, biofluids (cerebrospinal fluid and blood plasma), and peripheral blood cells (platelets (PLTs) and red blood cells (RBCs)), reported so far for the three most common NDDs—Alzheimer’s disease (AD), Parkinson’s disease (PD), and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). PLTs and RBCs, beyond their primary physiological functions, are increasingly recognized as valuable sources of biomarkers for NDDs. Special attention is given to the morphological and nanomechanical signatures of PLTs and RBCs as biophysical markers for the three pathologies. Modifications of the surface nanostructure and morphometric and nanomechanical signatures of PLTs and RBCs from patients with AD, PD, and ALS have been revealed by atomic force microscopy (AFM). AFM is currently experiencing rapid and widespread adoption in biomedicine and clinical medicine, in particular for early diagnostics of various medical conditions. AFM is a unique instrument without an analog, allowing the generation of three-dimensional cell images with extremely high spatial resolution at near-atomic scale, which are complemented by insights into the mechanical properties of cells and subcellular structures. Data demonstrate that AFM can distinguish between the three pathologies and the normal, healthy state. The specific PLT and RBC signatures can serve as biomarkers in combination with the currently used diagnostic tools. We highlight the strong correlation of the morphological and nanomechanical signatures between RBCs and PLTs in PD, ALS, and AD.https://www.mdpi.com/1422-0067/24/18/14296plateletsred blood cellscell morphologycell nanomechanicsatomic force microscopybiomarkers |
| spellingShingle | Stefka G. Taneva Svetla Todinova Tonya Andreeva Morphometric and Nanomechanical Screening of Peripheral Blood Cells with Atomic Force Microscopy for Label-Free Assessment of Alzheimer’s Disease, Parkinson’s Disease, and Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis International Journal of Molecular Sciences platelets red blood cells cell morphology cell nanomechanics atomic force microscopy biomarkers |
| title | Morphometric and Nanomechanical Screening of Peripheral Blood Cells with Atomic Force Microscopy for Label-Free Assessment of Alzheimer’s Disease, Parkinson’s Disease, and Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis |
| title_full | Morphometric and Nanomechanical Screening of Peripheral Blood Cells with Atomic Force Microscopy for Label-Free Assessment of Alzheimer’s Disease, Parkinson’s Disease, and Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis |
| title_fullStr | Morphometric and Nanomechanical Screening of Peripheral Blood Cells with Atomic Force Microscopy for Label-Free Assessment of Alzheimer’s Disease, Parkinson’s Disease, and Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis |
| title_full_unstemmed | Morphometric and Nanomechanical Screening of Peripheral Blood Cells with Atomic Force Microscopy for Label-Free Assessment of Alzheimer’s Disease, Parkinson’s Disease, and Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis |
| title_short | Morphometric and Nanomechanical Screening of Peripheral Blood Cells with Atomic Force Microscopy for Label-Free Assessment of Alzheimer’s Disease, Parkinson’s Disease, and Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis |
| title_sort | morphometric and nanomechanical screening of peripheral blood cells with atomic force microscopy for label free assessment of alzheimer s disease parkinson s disease and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis |
| topic | platelets red blood cells cell morphology cell nanomechanics atomic force microscopy biomarkers |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/1422-0067/24/18/14296 |
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