title: The effect of cdk-5 overexpression on tau phosphorylation and spatial memory of rat.
abstract: In Alzheimer's disease (AD), hyperphosphorylation of tau may be the underlying mechanism for the cytoskeletal abnormalities and neuronal death. It was reported that cyclin-dependent kinase5 (cdk-5) could phosphorylate tau at most AD-related epitopes in vitro. In this study, we investigated the effect of cdk-5 overexpression on tau phosphorylation and spatial memory in rat. We demonstrated that 24 h after transfection into rat hippocampus, cdk-5 was overexpressed and induced a reduced staining with antibody tau-1 and an enhanced staining with antibodies 12e8 and PHF-1, suggesting hyperphosphorylation of tau at Ser199/202, Ser262/356 and Ser396/404 sites. Additionally, the cdk-5 transfected rats showed long latency to find the hidden platform in Morris water maze compared to the control rat. 48 h after transfection, the level of cdk-5 was decreased significantly, and the latency of rats to find the hidden platform was prolonged. It implies that in vivo overexpression of cdk-5 leads to impairment of spatial memory in rat and tau hyperphosphorylation may be the underlying mechanism.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathophysiology, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430030, China.
authors.forename: Xiaomei
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Liao
authors.forename: Yingchun
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Yipeng
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Jianzhi
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wang
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D051360:Cyclin-Dependent Kinase 5; D018844:Cyclin-Dependent Kinases / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D015870:Gene Expression; D006624:Hippocampus / Q000378:metabolism; D008297:Male; D018782:Maze Learning / Q000502:physiology; D008568:Memory / Q000502:physiology*; D010766:Phosphorylation; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D013028:Space Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D013550:Swimming / Q000502:physiology; D014162:Transfection; D016875:tau Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D016875:tau Proteins; D051360:Cyclin-Dependent Kinase 5; C495907:Cdk5 protein, rat; D018844:Cyclin-Dependent Kinases