Abstract: Amyloids have been known to arise from many different proteins and polypeptides. These polypeptide chains generally form ?-sheet structures that aggregate into long fibers; however, identical polypeptides can fold into multiple distinct amyloid conformations. The diversity of the conformations may have led to different forms of the prion diseases. In particular, large populations of small globular amyloid oligomers (gOs) and curvilinear fibrils (CFs) precede the formation of late-stage rigid fibrils (RFs), and have been implicated in amyloid toxicity. As disclosed herein, triarylmethane f dye crystal violet is a highly selective indicator of gOs and CFs. Therefore, disclosed herein are compositions, kits, and methods for detecting amyloids in a tissue, either in vitro or in vivo.

Abstract: In one embodiment, the dimensions of nanoparticles are determined by focusing light on a sample of nanoparticles suspended in a solution, collecting light scattered by the nanoparticles, measuring translational and rotational decay rates of the collected light, calculating a ratio of the rotational decay rate to translational decay rate, and estimating a first dimension of the nanoparticles based upon the decay rate ratio.