Muon Spin Rotation is employed to investigate the spin dynamics of ferritin proteins isolated from the brain of an Alzheimer's disease (AD) patient and of a healthy control, using a sample of horse-spleen ferritin as a reference. A model based on the N\'eel theory of superparamagnetism is developed in order to interpret the spin relaxation rate of the muons stopped by the core of the protein. Using this model, our preliminary observations show that ferritins from the healthy control are filled with a mineral compatible with ferrihydrite, while ferritins from the AD patient contain a crystalline phase with a larger magnetocrystalline anisotropy, possibly compatible with magnetite or maghemite.
@article{arxiv.1702.07222,
title = {Human brain ferritin studied by muon Spin Rotation: a pilot study},
author = {Lucia Bossoni and Laure Grand Moursel and Marjolein Bulk and Brecht G. Simon and Andrew Webb and Louise van der Weerd and Martina Huber and Pietro Carretta and Alessandro Lascialfari and Tjerk H. Oosterkamp},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1702.07222},
year = {2018}
}