title: Somatodendritic localization of phosphorylated tau in neonatal and adult rat cerebral cortex.
abstract: We studied the distribution of phosphorylated tau (p-tau) in neonatal and adult rat cerebrum using monoclonal antibodies that recognize distinct tau epitopes in a phosphorylation-dependent manner. In neonatal cortex, p-tau was detected in the apical dendrites and somata of pyramidal neurons as well as in axons. In adults, p-tau was present predominantly in neuronal somata and dendrites and, to a lesser extent, in axons, whereas tau-1, that recognizes a dephosphorylated tau epitope, immunolabeled neuropil and axons, and not the neuronal somata and dendrites. These results suggest that tau phosphorylated at multiple sites is present in somatodendritic compartments of rat cortical neurons throughout life, and that phosphorylation may be one of the determinants for the compartmentalization of tau in the brain.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neuropathology and Neuroscience, Graduate School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, University of Tokyo, Japan.
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Tashiro
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hasegawa
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Ihara
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Iwatsubo
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000831:Animals, Newborn; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000166:cytology / Q000254:growth & development; D003712:Dendrites / Q000737:chemistry*; D015151:Immunoblotting; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D010766:Phosphorylation; D017966:Pyramidal Cells / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar; D016875:tau Proteins / Q000032:analysis*
chemical_list: D016875:tau Proteins