The physiological link between metabolic rate depression and tau phosphorylation in mammalian hibernation.

ABSTRACT: Abnormal phosphorylation and aggregation of tau protein are hallmarks of a variety of neurological disorders, including Alzheimer's disease (AD). Increased tau phosphorylation is assumed to represent an early event in pathogenesis and a pivotal aspect for aggregation and formation of neurofibrillary tangles. However, the regulation of tau phosphorylation in vivo and the causes for its increased stage of phosphorylation in AD are still not well understood, a fact that is primarily based on the lack of adequate animal models. Recently we described the reversible formation of highly phosphorylated tau protein in hibernating European ground squirrels. Hence, mammalian hibernation represents a model system very well suited to study molecular mechanisms of both tau phosphorylation and dephosphor

SUBMITTER: Stieler JT 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3022585 | biostudies-literature | 2011 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature