Rheological monitoring of tau protein polymerisation with acoustic waves sensor.

Among acoustic waves sensors, the thickness shear mode resonator presents high sensitivity for the measurement of liquid viscoelastic properties, enabling the monitoring of the shear moduli, G′ G″, by using a suitable physical model. The development of an instrumental system for detecting the tau protein involved in Alzheimer's disease is proposed which will aid in understanding the mechanisms of this disease. The tau protein is present in complex products such as blood and cerebrospinal fluid. The experimental results show that the acoustic wave system allows to differentiate between tau protein solutions with different states of polymerisation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]