Mark S. Forman, Devika Lal, Bin Zhang, Deepa V. Dabir, Eric Swanson, Virginia M.-Y. Lee, and John Q. Trojanowski
Filamentous inclusions ("neurofibrillary tangles") in neurons constitute the characteristic feature of the sporadic and familial neurodegenerative disorders known as tauopathies. Some of these disorders also show tau inclusions in oligodendrocytes and astrocytes. This week, Forman et al. create a mouse model to examine the sequelas of tau accumulation in astrocytes. In older transgenic mice, astrocytic tau was heavily phosphorylated and ubiquitinated, and, accordingly, formed insoluble aggregates. Although neuronal numbers remained constant, there was evidence of associated axonal injury and myelin breakdown in mice that were >12 months of age.