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Correlation between Tau Accumulation in Brain and Retina of Individuals with Late Stage Alzheimer's Disease
Author(s) -
Bondarenko Vladimir,
Skyba David
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fasebj.30.1_supplement.851.18
Subject(s) - retina , alzheimer's disease , immunostaining , dementia , neuroscience , disease , retinal , tau protein , cortex (anatomy) , human brain , prefrontal cortex , biology , pathology , psychology , medicine , immunohistochemistry , cognition , biochemistry
This study was aimed to determine if there is a correlation between tau accumulation in the brain and retina of individuals in the late stages of Alzheimer's disease. Characterizing the distribution and accumulation of tau proteins in the retina and brain may be important for early diagnosis of neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's disease. We examined total tau protein accumulation and its aggregates in brain and retinal tissues from aged individuals with Alzheimer's disease. Tissues from the prefrontal cortex, visual cortex and retinas of ten different cadavers were analyzed. We utilized cryosectioning to prepare tissue sections for immunostaining. Tissues obtained from individuals without a history of Alzheimer's disease or other types of dementia were used as negative controls. Detection of tau was performed using a primary antibody against human tau protein, followed by a universal secondary antibody. Although tau accumulation was greater than controls for both brain tissues, the density was higher in the prefrontal cortex. We also found an increase in tau content in the retinas from individuals with Alzheimer's disease compared to that of individuals without neurodegenerative disorders. These data demonstrate that neurodegenerative changes leading to accumulation of tau aggregates in the brain coincide with increased tau content in the retina. This raises the intriguing possibility that there may be a similar correlation in individuals during the early stages of Alzheimer's disease. Thus, future studies will concentrate on the accumulation of tau in the brain and retina of individuals during the earlier stages of Alzheimer's disease. Support or Funding Information Touro University Nevada internal research grant.