Aggregation of detergent-insoluble tau is involved in neuronal loss but not in synaptic loss.

ABSTRACT: Neurofibrillary tangles (NFTs), which consist of highly phosphorylated tau, are hallmarks of neurodegenerative diseases including Alzheimer disease (AD). In neurodegenerative diseases, neuronal dysfunction due to neuronal loss and synaptic loss accompanies NFT formation, suggesting that a process associated with NFT formation may be involved in neuronal dysfunction. To clarify the relationship between the tau aggregation process and synapse and neuronal loss, we compared two lines of mice expressing human tau with or without an aggregation-prone P301L mutation. P301L tau transgenic (Tg) mice exhibited neuronal loss and produced sarcosyl-insoluble tau in old age but did not exhibit synaptic loss and memory impairment. By contrast, wild-type tau Tg mice neither exhibited neuronal loss nor pr

SUBMITTER: Kimura T 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2992302 | biostudies-literature | 2010 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature