| First Author | Ikegami S | Year | 2000 |
| Journal | Neurosci Lett | Volume | 279 |
| Issue | 3 | Pages | 129-32 |
| PubMed ID | 10688046 | Mgi Jnum | J:60452 |
| Mgi Id | MGI:1353333 | Doi | 10.1016/s0304-3940(99)00964-7 |
| Citation | Ikegami S, et al. (2000) Muscle weakness, hyperactivity, and impairment in fear conditioning in tau-deficient mice. Neurosci Lett 279(3):129-32 |
| abstractText | Tau, one of the major neuronal microtubule-associated proteins (MAPs), is important for neuronal cell morphogenesis and axonal maintenance. Tau is also known to be a component of the paired helical filaments (PHFs) in Alzheimer's disease patients. Recently, mutations in the tau gene were found in a hereditary neurodegenerative disease called frontotemporal dementia and parkinsonism linked to chromosome 17 (FTDP-17) which exhibits various neurological and neuropathological characteristics including PHF-like intracellular tau deposit formation. Currently, the phenotype of the disease is thought to be due to: (1) the toxicity of mutant tau molecules and and/or; (2) the loss of function of normal tau molecules in patients' brains. To test the latter hypothesis, we performed behavioral and neurological tests on tau-deficient mice. Tau-deficient mice showed muscle weakness in the wire-hanging test, hyperactivity in a novel environment, and impairment in the contextual fear conditioning. They also had a tendency to fall more easily in the rod-walking test. These phenotypes parallel some signs and symptoms of FTDP-17 patients. Our results show that the loss of tau protein may itself lead to some of the neurological characteristics observed in FTDP-17 patients. |
