Neurodegenerative Diseases: Modeling Innovation and Therapeutic Breakthroughs

Neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease are characterized by the abnormal aggregation of pathological proteins, including Tau, α-synuclein, and Aβ. Current models , although widely used, still have limitations in recapitulating disease progression and pathological features.

Pre-formed fibrils (PFFs) provide a more targeted tool for studying protein aggregation–driven pathology. As exogenous pathological seeds, PFFs can induce the misfolding and seeded amplification of endogenous proteins, thereby supporting the study of pathology initiation, progression, and spreading. In vitro, PFFs can be used in combination with ThT-based assays for fibrillization characterization and aggregation kinetics analysis, and can also be applied in cell and organoid models to assess protein aggregation, cellular uptake, and pathological spreading. In vivo, PFFs are also widely used to establish pathology models with accelerated progression for functional studies and pharmacological evaluation.

Overall, PFFs provide a practical platform for studying protein aggregation–driven pathology across both in vitro and in vivo platform.