Tau is a protein that helps nerves transmit impulses efficiently. Diseases that transform normal tau into disruptive forms are called taupathies, including Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s. Abnormal tau can cause a variety of symptoms, from dementia to movement problems, and can lead to degenerative diseases.
Tau is a type of protein that is part of the structural function of nerves, which is required for nerves to transmit impulses efficiently. Some diseases can transform normal tau into forms that disrupt nerve impulses, and this group of diseases is called taupathies. Examples include Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease and corticobasal degeneration. Many of these diseases develop later in life, although some develop in middle age or earlier.
In people with healthy brains, tau protein is part of the axons of nerves. Nerves are typically elongated cells with branching projections on one end called dendrites and axons, which are more regularly shaped branching projections, on the opposite end. Nerves pass information to each other through chemical signals. Dendrites receive signals, while axons transmit signals to the next nerve.
Inside the nerve cell, also called a neuron, this information moves like an electrical impulse. Basically, the chemical signal is recognized by the dendrite end, which produces an electrical version, which travels to the end of the axon and is transformed back into a chemical signal. Tau protein, of which there are six individual types, is an essential component of the axonal portion of the nerve cell.
Healthy neurons use tiny structures called microtubules as scaffolding for the cell. Tau helps keep these microtubules in place and the cell in proper shape. The presence of tau also helps essential cellular nutrients like oxygen and glucose to travel within the cell. To do its job efficiently, normal tau protein takes on a specific form.
When the tau present in the nerves is of a different shape, the function of the nerve cell can be impaired. The taopathies cover a wide range of nervous diseases, as “pathy” simply means disease, from the Greek word pathos. Any disease that affects the form and function of tau proteins is therefore a tauopathy.
Normal tau folds a certain way, but abnormal tau folds differently, into different shapes. The abnormal tau molecules contain extra phosphate groups, which affect how the protein organizes itself. The different structure of dangerous tau means that the protein acts differently within the nerve cell. It tends to stick in clumps to the dendrite end of the nerve cell and blocks the transmission of electrical impulses.
This blocking of impulses is what causes the symptoms of tauopathies, which range from dementia to problems moving muscles. The variety of symptoms is due to the fact that tau is present both in the brain and in nerves around the rest of the body. Abnormal tau can then affect the person’s mental abilities, as in Alzheimer’s disease, or instead damage the person’s ability to control movement, as in Parkinson’s disease.
Damaged nerve cells can also die over time, making tauopathies worse with age and making them fall under the group of medical conditions known as degenerative diseases. Certain genetic mutations are implicated in some tauopathies, especially those that run in families, such as younger-onset Alzheimer’s disease. Other tauopathies, like normal Alzheimer’s disease, have no known cause as of 2011, and research is ongoing.
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