Tau knockout exacerbates degeneration of parvalbumin-positive neurons in substantia nigra pars reticulata in Parkinson's disease-related α-synuclein A53T mice.

ABSTRACT: α-Synuclein (α-syn)-induced neurotoxicity has been generally accepted as a key step in the pathogenesis of Parkinson's disease (PD). Microtubule-associated protein tau, which is considered second only to α-syn, has been repeatedly linked with PD in association studies. However, the underlying interaction between these two PD-related proteins in vivo remains unclear. To investigate how the expression of tau affects α-syn-induced neurodegeneration in vivo, we generated triple transgenic mice that overexpressed α-syn A53T mutation in the midbrain dopaminergic neurons (mDANs) with different expression levels of tau. Here, we found that tau had no significant effect on the A53T α-syn-mediated mDANs degeneration. However, tau knockout could modestly promote the formation of α-syn aggregates, acc

SUBMITTER: Jiao L 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8353962 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature