title: Enriched odor exposure decrease tau phosphorylation in the rat hippocampus and cortex.
abstract: Abnormally hyperphosphorylated microtubule-associated protein tau is the main component of the neurofibrillary tangles (NFT), a hallmark pathological feature of Alzheimer's disease (AD). A lot of studies suggested that there is highly neurobiological correlation between olfactory dysfunction and AD-like pathology, but the effect of the odor stimulation on tau phosphorylation remains unknown. Here, we examined the effect of short-term and long-term enriched odor exposure on the alterations of tau phosphorylation at multiple sites in the rat brains. We found that short-term odor enrichment did not affect the phosphorylation of tau, while long-term odor enrichment dramatically reduce the phosphorylation level of tau at Ser198/199/202, Thr231, Ser396, and Ser404 sites both in the hippocampus and cortex. These data suggest that long-term odor exposure prevent tau phosphorylation and may be a new therapeutic strategy of AD.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathophysiology, Key Laboratory of Neurological Diseases of Education Committee of China, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, PR China.
authors.forename: Kai
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Liao
authors.forename: Dan
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Ling-Qiang
authors.initials: LQ
authors.lastname: Zhu
mesh_terms: D000280:Administration, Inhalation; D000818:Animals; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000378:metabolism*; D006624:Hippocampus / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000378:metabolism*; D008297:Male; D009812:Odorants; D010766:Phosphorylation / Q000187:drug effects; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D014018:Tissue Distribution; D016875:tau Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D016875:tau Proteins