Isolation and characterization of amyloid fibrils from tissue.

Two simple protocols are described for the isolation of amyloid fibrils that consist of water extraction from homogenates of unfixed, frozen human amyloidotic tissues. Most of the contaminating plasma and fibril-associated proteins are removed to yield relatively pure amyloid fibrils, suitable for biochemical characterization, functional assays, and biophysical studies of their structure using many of the specialized techniques described elsewhere throughout this volume.