Magneto-mechanical manipulation of full-lenght human Tau40 in live-cell neuron cultures

Abstract

The microtubule-associated protein Tau is well known to aid in stabilizing the axonal cytoskeleton in brain cells. The longest of six human Tau isoforms, Tau40, contains four microtubule-binding domains, facilitates rapid assembly of axonal microtubules, and is the most common isoform in the adult human brain. Previous studies have shown that mechanical forces administered to the intracellular space of rodent cortical neurons impacted the distribution of Tau proteins. It remains, however, unclear what direct underlying mechanism is at play between Tau protein distribution and nanoparticle-mediated force manipulation.