Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UNIPROT:P10636 (tau protein)
 5,110 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Argyrophilic grain disease is a progressive degenerative disorder of the human brain which becomes increasingly prevalent with advancing age. The disease entails multiple neuronal systems and results from cytoskeletal degeneration in only a few neuronal types and in oligodendrocytes. Immunoreactions for abnormally phosphorylated tau protein permit identification of the changes. Only a fraction of the emerging abnormal fibrillary material shows a pronounced argyrophilia. Essential for neuropathological diagnosis is assessment of the presence of small spindle-shaped argyrophilic grains in neuronal processes. The anteromedial portion of the temporal lobe bears the brunt of the lesions. Grains generally can be found in abundance in the entorhinal region, the first Ammon's horn sector, the subcortical nuclear complex of the amygdala, and the hypothalamic lateral tuberal nucleus. Frequently, the lesions co-exist with those typically found in Alzheimer's disease or other tauopathies. Owing to the characteristic grains, the disorder easily can be differentiated from other tauopathies. 2661 non-selected brains obtained at autopsy included 125 cases of argyrophilic grain disease (5%) from individuals between 51 and 96 years of age (mean 79 years) . The fact that the same material contained 146 cases of fully developed Alzheimer's disease (6%) supports the view that argyrophilic grain disease is not a rare disorder. Its prevalence with and without concomitant neurofibrillary changes of the Alzheimer type grows with increasing age. Argyrophilic grain disease merits attention because of its frequent occurrence and its potential to cause severe brain dysfunction.
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PMID:Argyrophilic grain disease: frequency of occurrence in different age categories and neuropathological diagnostic criteria. 986 20

Recent dementia studies indicate that behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia (BPSD) are not merely an epiphenomenon of cognitive impairment, but could be attributed to specific biological brain dysfunction. We describe findings from different research modalities related with BPSD (psychopathological, neuropsychological, neurochemical, and psychophysiological strategies), and attempt to reconcile them into the more integrated form. Characteristics of delusions in dementia patients should be studied in more detail from a psychopathological aspect, aiming for the integration of psychopathology and neurobiology. Imperfect integration of memory function and cognitive function, assigned to the limbic systems and association areas, respectively, may result in BPSD. More intimate collaboration of psychopathological and neurobiological study would be fruitful to promote the research in psychological basis of BPSD. Neurochemical studies indicated that density of extracellular tangles and/or PHF-tau protein have relationships with delusion or misidentification. These changes in neurochemical parameters should be the key to understanding the pathogenesis of BPSD. More importantly, neurochemical and psychological study could be linked by the research in psychophysiology. Computer-assisted electroencephalogram analysis suggests that the right posterior hemisphere shows significant age-associated change earlier than the left in the elderly. Cerebral metabolic rate by positron emission tomography study indicates that paralimbic, left medial temporal, and left medial occipital area are involved in pathogenesis of BPSD in some dementia patients.
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PMID:Neurobiological basis of behavioral and psychological symptoms in dementia of the Alzheimer type. 1114 58

Cerebral dysfunction without corresponding structural pathology has been reported in brain imaging studies of violent offenders. Biochemical markers in the CSF reflect various types of CNS pathology, such as blood-brain barrier dysfunction (CSF/S albumin ratio), infectious or inflammatory processes (IgG and IgM indices), neuronal or axonal degeneration (CSF-tau protein) and synaptic de- or regeneration (CSF-growth associated protein-43 (GAP-43)). We compared these CSF markers in 19 non-psychotic perpetrators of severe violent crimes undergoing pretrial forensic psychiatric investigation and 19 age- and sex-matched controls. Index subjects had significantly higher albumin ratios (p = 0.002), indicating abnormal vascular permeability as part of the complex CNS dysfunction previously reported in violent offenders. Axis I disorders, including substance abuse or current medication, did not explain this finding. Since Ig-indices, CSF-tau protein or CSF-GAP-43 were not increased, there was no support for inflammation or neuronal/synaptic degeneration as etiological factors to CNS dysfunction in this category of subjects.
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PMID:CSF studies in violent offenders. II. Blood-brain barrier dysfunction without concurrent inflammation or structure degeneration. 1151 53

The microtubule-associated protein tau accumulates in Alzheimer's and other fatal dementias, which manifest when forebrain neurons die. Recent advances in understanding these disorders indicate that brain dysfunction precedes neurodegeneration, but the role of tau is unclear. Here, we show that early tau-related deficits develop not from the loss of synapses or neurons, but rather as a result of synaptic abnormalities caused by the accumulation of hyperphosphorylated tau within intact dendritic spines, where it disrupts synaptic function by impairing glutamate receptor trafficking or synaptic anchoring. Mutagenesis of 14 disease-associated serine and threonine amino acid residues to create pseudohyperphosphorylated tau caused tau mislocalization while creation of phosphorylation-deficient tau blocked the mistargeting of tau to dendritic spines. Thus, tau phosphorylation plays a critical role in mediating tau mislocalization and subsequent synaptic impairment. These data establish that the locus of early synaptic malfunction caused by tau resides in dendritic spines.
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PMID:Tau mislocalization to dendritic spines mediates synaptic dysfunction independently of neurodegeneration. 2117 10