title: Tau neurotoxicity and rescue in animal models of human Tauopathies.
abstract: Pathological Tau is a hallmark of various neuronal disorders and spreads in the brain of Alzheimer patients in a well-defined manner. Beside Tau's main function in stabilizing microtubules for axonal transport, a variety of novel functions for neurons and glia have emerged recently. Tau regulates the susceptibility to hyperexcitation and plays a role in neuron-glia contact formation. Studies implicate soluble oligomeric species of Tau, rather than insoluble aggregates, as more detrimental to proper neuronal function. Tau is not exclusively intracellular; instead Tau can be released into the extracellular space. This has led to the hypothesis of a prion-disease like mechanism to explain the stereotypical progression of Tau. Targeting pathological Tau with antibodies or aggregation inhibitors may help to prevent pathology.
authors.affiliation: German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE), Ludwig-Erhard-Allee 2, 53175 Bonn, Germany. Electronic address: lars.krueger@dzne.de.
authors.forename: Lars
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Krüger
authors.affiliation: German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE), Ludwig-Erhard-Allee 2, 53175 Bonn, Germany; Caesar Research Center, Ludwig-Erhard-Allee 2, 53175 Bonn, Germany; Max-Planck-Institute for Metabolism Research, Hamburg Outstation, c/o DESY, Notkestrasse 85, 22607 Hamburg, Germany. Electronic address: eva.mandelkow@dzne.de.
authors.forename: Eva Maria
authors.initials: EM
authors.lastname: Mandelkow
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000906:Antibodies / Q000494:pharmacology; D001921:Brain / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000503:physiopathology; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D004198:Disease Susceptibility; D006801:Humans; D051379:Mice; D017729:Presynaptic Terminals / Q000378:metabolism; D066329:Protein Aggregates / Q000187:drug effects; D066263:Protein Aggregation, Pathological / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000503:physiopathology; D024801:Tauopathies / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000503:physiopathology; D016875:tau Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D000906:Antibodies; D066329:Protein Aggregates; D016875:tau Proteins