Abstract
In Alzheimer disease (AD) and other tauopathies, microtubule-associated protein tau becomes hyperphosphorylated, undergoes conformational changes, aggregates, eventually becoming neurofibrillary tangles (NFTs). As accumulating evidence suggests that NFTs themselves may not be toxic, attention is now turning toward the role of intermediate tau oligomers in AD pathophysiology. Sarkosyl extraction is a standard protocol for investigating insoluble tau aggregates in brains. There is a growing consensus that sarkosyl-insoluble tau correlates with the pathological features of tauopathy. While sarkosyl-insoluble tau from tauopathy brains has been well characterized as a pool of filamentous tau, other dimers, multimers, and granules of tau are much less well understood. There are protocols for identifying these tau oligomers. In this mini review, we discuss the characteristics of tau oligomers isolated via different methods and materials.
Highlights
Tau is a phospho-protein that belongs to the family of microtubule (MT)-associated proteins
We demonstrated that TBS-extractable 64 kDa tau species represents better the species involved in the progression of brain atrophy than does the sarkosyl-insoluble tau species [25]
If tau oligomeric complex 1 (TOC1) antibody selectively interacts with tau dimers and higher-order oligomers but not tau filaments, and if those species cause neurotoxicity, this antibody can be a useful tool to track the pathway of tau neurotoxicity
Summary
Edited by: Jesus Avila, Centro de Biología Molecular Severo Ochoa CSIC-UAM, Spain. Reviewed by: Jesus Avila, Centro de Biología Molecular Severo Ochoa CSIC-UAM, Spain Emmanuel Planel, Centre Hospitalier de l’université Laval, Canada. In Alzheimer disease (AD) and other tauopathies, microtubule-associated protein tau becomes hyperphosphorylated, undergoes conformational changes, aggregates, eventually becoming neurofibrillary tangles (NFTs). As accumulating evidence suggests that NFTs themselves may not be toxic, attention is turning toward the role of intermediate tau oligomers in AD pathophysiology. Sarkosyl extraction is a standard protocol for investigating insoluble tau aggregates in brains.There is a growing consensus that sarkosyl-insoluble tau correlates with the pathological features of tauopathy. There are protocols for identifying these tau oligomers. In this mini review, we discuss the characteristics of tau oligomers isolated via different methods and materials
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