Amyloid peptides incorporating a core sequence from the amyloid beta peptide and gamma amino acids: relating bioactivity to self-assembly.

A series of heptapeptides comprising the core sequence Aβ(16-20), KLVFF, of the amyloid β peptide coupled with paired N-terminal γ-amino acids are investigated in terms of cytotoxicity reduction and binding to the full Aβ peptide, both pointing to inhibition of fibrillisation for selected compounds. This is related to the self-assembly capacity of the heptapeptides.