Journal of Biological Chemistry
Volume 281, Issue 8, 24 February 2006, Pages 5037-5041
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Mechanisms of Signal Transduction
Formation of Tau Inclusions in Knock-in Mice with Familial Alzheimer Disease (FAD) Mutation of Presenilin 1 (PS1)*

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Mutations in the presenilin 1 (PS1) gene are responsible for the early onset of familial Alzheimer disease (FAD). Accumulating evidence shows that PS1 is involved in γ-secretase activity and that FAD-associated mutations of PS1 commonly accelerate Aβ1–42 production, which causes Alzheimer disease (AD). Recent studies suggest, however, that PS1 is involved not only in Aβ production but also in other processes that lead to neurodegeneration. To better understand the causes of neurodegeneration linked to the PS1 mutation, we analyzed the development of tau pathology, another key feature of AD, in PS1 knock-in mice. Hippocampal samples taken from FAD mutant (I213T) PS1 knock-in mice contained hyperphosphorylated tau that reacted with various phosphodependent tau antibodies and with Alz50, which recognizes the conformational change of PHF tau. Some neurons exhibited Congo red birefringence and Thioflavin T reactivity, both of which are histological criteria for neurofibrillary tangles (NFTs). Biochemical analysis of the samples revealed SDS-insoluble tau, which under electron microscopy examination, resembled tau fibrils. These results indicate that our mutant PS1 knock-in mice exhibited NFT-like tau pathology in the absence of Aβ deposition, suggesting that PS1 mutations contribute to the onset of AD not only by enhancing Aβ1–42 production but by also accelerating the formation and accumulation of filamentous tau.

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*

This work was supported in part by a grant from the Ministry of Education, Science, Sports, and Culture of Japan. The costs of publication of this article were defrayed in part by the payment of page charges. This article must therefore be hereby marked “advertisement” in accordance with 18 U.S.C. Section 1734 solely to indicate this fact.

1

Present address: Neuroscience Research Institute, Peking University, 38 Xue Yuan Rd., Beijing 100083, China.