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Age-related Changes in Tau Expression in Transgenic Mouse Model of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis

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Abstract

The work is a continuation of studies on tau expression and alternative splicing in the central nervous system of transgenic mice harboring human SOD1 with G93A amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS)-associated mutation. Since age is an important risk factor for ALS, we expanded the studies into younger animals (age 5 and 25 days). We also included cerebellum, a structure not studied in the context of neurodegeneration in ALS. We found decreased total tau-mRNA expression in hippocampus but not in cortex and spinal cord of young transgenics, and a lack of exon 10 in 5-day-old mice. In cerebellum, the total tau-mRNA expression was increased in transgenic animals during the whole period of life, however at the symptomatic stage of ALS (age 120 days) the level of protein was decreased.

It can be concluded that the SOD1 G93A mutation causes early alterations of tau expression in cns, which are not exclusively restricted to the upper and lower motor neuron.

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Acknowledgment

This study was supported by Polish-German project in neuroscience PBZ-MIN-001/P05/08 from the Polish Ministry of Science and Information Society Technologies.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biochemistry, Medical University of Warsaw, Banacha 1, Warsaw, 02-097, Poland

    Anna Barańczyk-Kuźma, Ewa Usarek, Beata Kaźmierczak & Beata Gajewska

  2. Department of Neurology, Medical University of Warsaw, Banacha 1, Warsaw, 02-097, Poland

    Magdalena Kuźma-Kozakiewcz

  3. Department of Neurology, University of Ulm, Oberer Eselsberg 45, Ulm, 89081, Germany

    Birgit Schwalenstocker & Albert C. Ludolph

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  1. Anna Barańczyk-Kuźma
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  2. Ewa Usarek
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  3. Magdalena Kuźma-Kozakiewcz
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  4. Beata Kaźmierczak
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  5. Beata Gajewska
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  6. Birgit Schwalenstocker
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  7. Albert C. Ludolph
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Correspondence to Anna Barańczyk-Kuźma.

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Barańczyk-Kuźma, A., Usarek, E., Kuźma-Kozakiewcz, M. et al. Age-related Changes in Tau Expression in Transgenic Mouse Model of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis. Neurochem Res 32, 415–421 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11064-006-9242-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11064-006-9242-4

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