Nature of Tau-Associated Neurodegeneration and the Molecular Mechanisms

Overview

Journal J Alzheimers Dis

Publisher Sage Publications

Specialties Geriatrics
Neurology

Date 2018 Mar 23

PMID 29562535

Citations 18

Authors

Ying Yang

Jian-Zhi Wang

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Neurodegeneration is defined as the progressive loss of structure or function of the neurons. As the nature of degenerative cell loss is currently not clear, there is no specific molecular marker to measure neurodegeneration. Therefore, researchers have been using apoptotic markers to measure neurodegeneration. However, neurodegeneration is completely different from apoptosis by morphology and time course. Lacking specific molecular marker has been the major hindrance in research of neurodegenerative disorders. Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the most common neurodegenerative disorder, and tau accumulation forming neurofibrillary tangles is a hallmark pathology in the AD brains, suggesting that tau must play a critical role in AD neurodegeneration. Here we review part of our published papers on tau-related studies, and share our thoughts on the nature of tau-associated neurodegeneration in AD.

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