Tau phosphorylation-associated spine regression does not impair hippocampal-dependent memory in hibernating golden hamsters

ABSTRACT The microtubule‐associated protein tau, in its hyperphosphorylated form, is the major component of paired helical filaments and other aggregates in neurodegenerative disorders commonly referred to as “tauopathies”. Recent evidence, however, indicates that mislocalization of hyperphosphoryla...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Hippocampus 2016-03, Vol.26 (3), p.301-318
Main Authors: Bullmann, Torsten, Seeger, Gudrun, Stieler, Jens, Hanics, János, Reimann, Katja, Kretzschmann, Tanja Petra, Hilbrich, Isabel, Holzer, Max, Alpár, Alán, Arendt, Thomas
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Alzheimer's disease
Animals
Arousal - physiology
Cricetinae
Dendritic Spines - metabolism
Disks Large Homolog 4 Protein
Female
Hibernation - physiology
Hippocampus - cytology
Hippocampus - metabolism
Humans
hypometabolism
Intracellular Signaling Peptides and Proteins - metabolism
Male
Maze Learning
Membrane Proteins - metabolism
Memory - physiology
Mesocricetus - physiology
Mesocricetus auratus
microtubule associated protein
Motor Activity
Neurons - ultrastructure
protein phosphorylation
Sequence Alignment
Synapses - physiology
tau Proteins - metabolism
Time Factors
torpor
Torpor - physiology
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:ABSTRACT The microtubule‐associated protein tau, in its hyperphosphorylated form, is the major component of paired helical filaments and other aggregates in neurodegenerative disorders commonly referred to as “tauopathies”. Recent evidence, however, indicates that mislocalization of hyperphosphorylated tau to subsynaptic sites leads to synaptic impairment and cognitive decline even long before formation of tau aggregates and neurodegeneration occur. A similar, but reversible hyperphosphorylation of tau occurs under physiologically controlled conditions during hibernation. Here, we study the hibernating Golden hamster (Syrian hamster, Mesocricetus auratus). A transient spine reduction was observed in the hippocampus, especially on apical dendrites of hippocampal CA3 pyramidal cells, but not on their basal dendrites. This distribution of structural synaptic regression was correlated to the distribution of phosphorylated tau, which was highly abundant in apical dendrites but hardly detectable in basal dendrites. Surprisingly, hippocampal memory assessed by a labyrinth maze was not affected by hibernation. The present study suggests a role for soluble hyperphosphorylated tau in the process of reversible synaptic regression, which does not lead to memory impairment during hibernation. We hypothesize that tau phosphorylation associated spine regression might mainly affect unstable/dynamic spines while sparing established/stable spines. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
ISSN:1050-9631
1098-1063
DOI:10.1002/hipo.22522