Somatodendritic localization of phosphorylated tau in... : NeuroReport (original) (raw)

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Somatodendritic localization of phosphorylated tau in neonatal and adult rat cerebral cortex

Tashiro, Ken1,4; Hasegawa, Masato2,3; Ihara, Yasuo2,4; Iwatsubo, Takeshi1,4,5

1Department of Neuropathology and Neuroscience, Graduate School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Tokyo, 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyoku, Tokyo 113

2Department of Neuropathology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Tokyo, 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyoku, Tokyo 113

3Present address: Neurobiology Division, Medical Research Council, Cambridge, UK

4CREST, Japan Science and Technology Corporation (JST), Japan.

5Corresponding Author and Address: Takeshi Iwatsubo, Department of Neuropathology and Neuroscience, Graduate School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Tokyo, 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyoku, Tokyo 113

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS: The authors thank Dr S.G. Greenberg for the generous gift of mab PHF-1.

Received 28 April 1997; accepted 20 June 1997

Abstract

WE studied the distribution of phosphorylated tau (ptau) in neonatal and adult rat cerebrum using monoclonal antibodies that recognize distinct tau epitopes in a phosphorylation-dependent manner. In neonatal cortex, p-tau was detected in the apical dendrites and somata of pyramidal neurons as well as in axons. In adults, p-tau was present predominantly in neuronal somata and dendrites and, to a lesser extent, in axons, whereas tau-1, that recognizes a dephosphorylated tau epitope, immunolabeled neuropil and axons, and not the neuronal somata and dendrites. These results suggest that tau phosphorylated at multiple sites is present in somatodendritic compartments of rat cortical neurons throughout life, and that phosphorylation may be one of the determinants for the compartmentalization of tau in the brain.