Starvation induces tau hyperphosphorylation in mouse brain: implications for Alzheimer's disease

FEBS Letters

Planel, Emmanuel¹  Yanagisawa, Masahiro¹  Ishiguro, Koichi¹  Fujita, Shinobu C¹ 

[1] Mitsubishi Kasei Institute of Life Sciences, 11 Minamiooya, Machida, Tokyo 194-8511, Japan

关键词: Tau phosphorylation;    Starvation;    Hippocampus;    Alzheimer's disease;    Glucose;    Hypoglycemia;   

DOI  :  10.1016/S0014-5793(99)01480-5

学科分类：生物化学/生物物理

来源: John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

【 摘 要 】

Hyperphosphorylated tau is the major component of paired helical filaments in neurofibrillary tangles found in Alzheimer's disease brains, and tau hyperphosphorylation is thought to be a critical event in the pathogenesis of this disease. The objective of this study was to reproduce tau hyperphosphorylation in an animal model by inducing hypoglycemia. Food deprivation of mice for 1 to 3 days progressively enhanced tau hyperphosphorylation in the hippocampus, to a lesser extent in the cerebral cortex, but the effect was least in the cerebellum, in correspondence with the regional selectivity of tauopathy in Alzheimer's disease. This hyperphosphorylation was reversible by refeeding for 1 day. We discuss possible mechanisms of this phenomenon, and propose the starved mouse as a simple model to study in vivo tau phosphorylation and dephosphorylation which are altered in Alzheimer's disease.

【 授权许可】

Unknown