A modeling study of the effect of an alternating magnetic field on magnetite nanoparticles in proximity of the neuronal microtubules: A proposed mechanism for detachment of tau proteins

Abstract

Background and objectiveIt is known that the disintegration of microtubules in neurons occurs in response to the phosphorylation of the tau proteins that promotes the structural instability of the microtubules, as one of the factors underlying the onset of Alzheimer's disease (AD). MethodsIn this study, the mechanical variations undergone by the tau protein's and microtubule's structures due to the action of intrinsic magnetite nanoparticles inside the brain tissue have been computationally modeled using the finite element (FEM) method. ResultsThe von Mises stress induced by magnetite nanoparticles, subject to an applied alternating magnetic field, leads to local heating and mechanical forces, prompting a corresponding deformation in, and displacement of, the microtubule and the tau protein. ConclusionsThe induction of these deformations would increase the probability of the microtubules’ depolymerization, and hence their eventual structural disintegration.