Propagation of tau pathology in a model of early Alzheimer's disease.

de Calignon A, Polydoro M, Suárez-Calvet M, William C, Adamowicz DH, Kopeikina KJ, Pitstick R, Sahara N, Ashe KH, Carlson GA, et al.
Neuron. 2012 Feb 23; 73(4):685-97. PMID: 22365544. Abstract
Top50 Topics: 
Tau, Pathology

Comments

Their data suggest that a sequence of progressive misfolding of tau proteins, circuit-based transfer to new cell populations, and deafferentation induced degeneration are part of a process of tau-induced neurodegeneration.

Submitted by Wei Chen on

The authors expounds the evolution rules of neurofibrillary tangles with disease progression in transgenic mouse model, which provides an important reference information of changes of nerve fibers detected by diffusion tensor imaging.

Tha authors developped an  interesting animal model that allowed them to unravell the sequence of events from expression of pathological tau in the entorhinal cortex to the development of widespread cortical involvement. They identified the specific sequence of progressive misfolding of tau proteins that,  transfering  to new cell populations, induced degeneration.