Tauopathy

The group of tauopathies comprises a group of neurodegenerative diseases whose common feature is the accumulation of tau protein in the brain.

Microscopic examination of the brain tissue of patients to find these tau protein deposits in nerve and glial cells. They often occur as neurofibrillary tangles ( neurofibrillary tangles engl. ). They can be with special stains (eg, silver plating, because they are argyrophilic structures ) make or immunohistochemically with antibodies against Tau visible. The electron microscope shows that - depending on the disease - are different types of neurofibrillary tangles. There are different depending on the isoform Tau - deposit products. A common classification is based on the number of certain repetitions in the microtubule- binding site. According to the number of tandem repeats tauopathies are often divided into 3R or 4R- tauopathies on.

The cause of most tauopathies is unknown. Some are hereditary tauopathies. Thus one finds, for example, over 60 different mutations of the tau gene in patients with FTLD - MAPT.

The group of tauopathies include:

• Alzheimer's disease
• Corticobasal degeneration ( CBD: 4R- tau )
• Silver grain disease ( AGD: 4R- tau )
• Pick's disease (3R tau )
• FTLD - MAPT (formerly FTDP -17, frontotemporal dementia and parkinsonism of chromosome 17)
• Progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP: 4R- tau )
• Neurofibrillary tangle dementia
• Tauopathy with gliobulären glial inclusions
• Unclassifiable tauopathies