Hemes have been suggested to play a central role in Alzheimer's disease since they show high peroxidase reactivity when bound to amyloid β peptides, leading to the production of reactive oxygen species. Here we used Fourier transform infrared and Raman imaging on Alzheimer's diseased mice and human brain tissue. Our finding suggests the accumulation of hemes in the senile plaques of both murine and human samples. We compared the Raman signature of the plaques to the ones of various hemeoproteins and to the hemin-Aβ-42 complex. The detected Raman signature of the plaques does not allow identifying the type of heme accumulating in the plaques.
Keywords: Alzheimer’s disease; Raman imaging; heme; infrared imaging.