Hippocampal BDNF Expression in a Tau Transgenic Mouse Model

Title:Hippocampal BDNF Expression in a Tau Transgenic Mouse Model

Volume: 9 Issue: 4

Author(s): Sylvie Burnouf, Karim Belarbi, Laetitia Troquier, Maxime Derisbourg, Dominique Demeyer, Antoine Leboucher and Cyril Laurent, Malika Hamdane, Luc Buee, David Blum

Affiliation:

Keywords: Alzheimer’s disease, BDNF, neurotrophins, tau, tauopathies, transgenic models, Protein Expression, ELISA analysis, synaptic plasticity, homeostasis

Abstract: Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disorder characterized by extracellular accumulation of amyloid deposits and intracellular neurofibrillary tangles (NFT) composed of hyperphosphorylated Tau proteins. Brainderived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) is a neurotrophic factor playing a critical role in hippocampal synaptic plasticity and memory and whose levels have been shown reduced in AD brains. While recent data support a pivotal role of β-amyloid peptides towards BDNF decrease, whether Tau pathology impacts on BDNF expression remains unknown so far. In the present study, we have evaluated this relationship using quantitative PCR, Western blot and ELISA in the THY-Tau22 transgenic strain, known to display a progressive development of both hippocampal AD-like Tau pathology and memory impairments. We observed that Tau pathology was not associated with down-regulation of BDNF at the protein and mRNA levels in this model, suggesting that the alteration of BDNF homeostasis observed in AD patients’ brains might rather be ascribed to amyloid pathology.

Cite this article as:

Sylvie Burnouf, Karim Belarbi, Laetitia Troquier, Maxime Derisbourg, Dominique Demeyer, Antoine Leboucher and Cyril Laurent, Malika Hamdane, Luc Buee, David Blum , Hippocampal BDNF Expression in a Tau Transgenic Mouse Model, Current Alzheimer Research 2012; 9 (4) . https://dx.doi.org/10.2174/156720512800492468