Tau protein expression in frontotemporal dementias.
The syndrome of frontotemporal dementia represents a diverse group of diseases presenting with behavioral and cognitive disturbances. The expression of the microtubule-associated protein tau was studied in postmortem samples of frontal cortex of 19 cases (12 Pick's disease A, B, C; 4 dementia lacking distinct histology; 3 motor neuron disease type) by Western blotting with a phosphorylation-independent anti-tau antibody. The presence of tau protein was detected in all cases evaluated, including the 11 brains classified as frontotemporal lobe degeneration (diagnostic categories Pick's disease B, C and dementia lacking distinct histology). These findings indicate that the recently reported decreased expression of tau protein in frontotemporal lobe degeneration represents pathogenic mechanism of neurodegeneration detectable only in a special subset of these disorders.
Adamec
E
E
Department of Psychiatry, Harvard University School of Medicine, McLean Hospital, Belmont, MA 02478, USA. eadamec@mercury.mclean.org
Chang
H T
HT
Stopa
E G
EG
Hedreen
J C
JC
Vonsattel
J P
JP
D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D015153:Blotting, Western; D003704:Dementia / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D005260:Female; D005625:Frontal Lobe / Q000473:pathology*; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D020774:Pick Disease of the Brain / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D013702:Temporal Lobe / Q000473:pathology*; D016875:tau Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*
D016875:tau Proteins