Tau aggregation into fibrillar polymers: taupathies

Different neurological disorders, known as taupathies have been recently described. In these disorders it has been suggested that modifications in the microtubule-associated protein tau could cause neural degeneration in specific regions. Although these regions are different in the different taupathies, some common features appear to occur in all of them: abnormal hyperphosphorylation of tau and aberrant tau aggregation. These two features are commented upon in this review.