| First Author | Rosa E | Year | 2016 |
| Journal | Neurobiol Aging | Volume | 48 |
| Pages | 135-142 | PubMed ID | 27676333 |
| Mgi Jnum | J:239562 | Mgi Id | MGI:5829155 |
| Doi | 10.1016/j.neurobiolaging.2016.08.020 | Citation | Rosa E, et al. (2016) Tau downregulates BDNF expression in animal and cellular models of Alzheimer's disease. Neurobiol Aging 48:135-142 |
| abstractText | In Alzheimer's disease, soluble tau accumulates and deposits as neurofibrillary tangles (NFTs). However, a precise toxic mechanism of tau is not well understood. We hypothesized that overexpression of wild-type tau downregulates brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), a neurotrophic peptide essential for learning and memory. Two transgenic mouse models of human tau expression and human tau (hTau40)-transfected human neuroblastoma (SH-SY5Y) cells were used to examine the effect of excess or pathologically modified wild-type human tau on BDNF expression. Both transgenic mouse models, with or without NFTs, as well as hTau40-SH-SY5Y cells significantly downregulated BDNF messenger RNA compared with controls. Similarly, transgenic mice overexpressing amyloid-beta (Abeta) significantly downregulated BDNF expression. However, when crossed with tau knockout mice, the resulting animals exhibited BDNF levels that were not statistically different from wild-type mice. These results demonstrate that excess or pathologically modified wild-type human tau downregulates BDNF and that neither a mutation in tau nor the presence of NFTs is required for toxicity. Moreover, our findings suggest that tau at least partially mediates Abeta-induced BDNF downregulation. Therefore, Alzheimer's disease treatments targeting Abeta alone may not be effective without considering the impact of tau pathology on neurotrophic pathways. |
