Preparation and Characterization of Neurotoxic Tau Oligomers

• Published in: Biochemistry (Easton) 2010-11, Vol.49 (47), p.10039-10041
• Main Authors: Lasagna-Reeves, Cristian A, Castillo-Carranza, Diana L, Guerrero-Muñoz, Marcos J, Jackson, George R, Kayed, Rakez
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: alpha-Synuclein - pharmacology; Amyloid beta-Peptides - chemistry; Amyloid beta-Peptides - pharmacology; Cell Line, Tumor; Humans; Neurodegenerative Diseases - drug therapy; Protein Multimerization; Protein Structure, Secondary; tau Proteins - chemistry; tau Proteins - toxicity
• ISSN: 0006-2960; 1520-4995
• DOI: 10.1021/bi1016233

Tau aggregation is a pathological hallmark of Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, and many other neurodegenerative disorders known as tauopathies. Tau aggregates take on many forms, and their formation is a multistage process with intermediate stages. Recently, tau oligomers have emerged as the pathogenic species in tauopathies and a possible mediator of amyloid-β toxicity in Alzheimer's disease. Here, we use a novel, physiologically relevant method (oligomer cross-seeding) to prepare homogeneous populations of tau oligomers and characterize these oligomers in vitro. We show that both Aβ and α-synuclein oligomers induce tau aggregation and the formation of β-sheet-rich neurotoxic tau oligomers.