Massive accumulation of modified tau and severe depletion of normal tau characterize the cerebral cortex and white matter of Alzheimer's disease. Demonstration using the hydrated autoclaving method.
Year: 1992
Type: article
Abstract: Using the hydrated autoclaving method, a new immunohistochemical procedure to enhance tau immunoreactivity in formalin-fixed brain tissue, the authors recently reported that tau protein is detected in neuronal cell bodies and proximal dendrites, gray matter neuropil, axons, and glial cells in normal human hippocampus and neocortex. In the this study, the authors performed a comparative study of the distribution of normal and modified forms of tau in Alzheimer's disease (AD) and control brains. In the cerebral cortex and white matter of AD brains, a massive accumulation of modified tau and/or severe depletion of normal tau were documented in all the tau compartments. In mild AD cases, gray matter neuropil, axons, and glial cells were less severely involved than neuronal perikarya. In the controls, neuronal perikarya were often involved by modified tau accumulation, but the other compartments showed normal distribution. These observations suggest that modifications of tau which lead to neurofibrillary lesions in AD may begin in neuronal perikarya and extend to the other tau compartments in advanced stages of the disease.
Source: PubMed Central
Authors: R W Shin, T Iwaki, T Kitamoto, Y Sato, J Tateishi
Institution: Kyushu University
Language: English
Subfield: Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience
Field: Neuroscience
Domain: Life Sciences
Open Access status: green
Funder: National Institute on Aging
OpenAlex ID: W161547275