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Updated: May 14, 2026

Preparation of Acute Hippocampal Slices from Rats and Transgenic Mice for the Study of Synaptic Alterations during Aging and Amyloid Pathology
Published on: March 23, 2011
Tau and neuron aging
Jesus Avila1, Elena Gomez de Barreda, Noemi Pallas-Bazarra
1Centro de Biología Molecular Severo Ochoa, CSIC-UAM, 28049 Madrid, Spain. ; Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red sobre Enfermedades Neurodegenerativas (CIBERNED), Spain.
Abstract:
Tau protein could appear like a family of multiple isoforms rising by alternative splicing of its nuclear RNA or by different posttranslational modifications. The levels (or proportion) of these different tau isoforms could change in different neurons during development, aging or disease (tauopathies) in mammals. It is discussed that in some disorders there is a gain of toxic function of modified tau, due to the phosphorylation or aggregation of tau protein. These phenotypic changes are mainly found in aging organisms. On the other hand, loss of tau function could facilitate the appearance of some defects (related to iron toxicity) in aging animals lacking tau.
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