It is possible to distinguish aggregations of the proteins believed to cause Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, and Creutzfeldt-Jakob (“mad cow”) diseases from normal proteins by using a multiphoton laser technique, researchers at Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden the Polish Wroclaw University of Technology have discovered.
Today, amyloid protein aggregates are treated with highly toxic chemicals for detection and removal.
With a multiphoton laser, the chemical treatment would be unnecessary, and it might be possible to remove the harmful protein without touching the surrounding tissue, the researchers suggest.
These diseases arise when amyloid beta protein are aggregated in large doses so they start to inhibit proper cellular processes.
Different proteins create different kinds of amyloids, but they generally have the same structure. This makes them different from the well-functioning proteins in the body, which can now be shown by multi photon laser technique.