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. 2010 Jun 28:4:49.
doi: 10.3389/fnins.2010.00049. eCollection 2010.

Intracellular and extracellular tau

Affiliations

Intracellular and extracellular tau

Jesús Avila. Front Neurosci. .

Abstract

In this short review is described the toxicity of modified intracellular tau and that of extracellular tau that could be released into the extracellular space after neuron death.

Keywords: Alzheimer disease; tau; tauopathies; toxicity.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
(A) Intracellular tau is mainly bound to microtubules (MT) in the cytoplasm of a neuron but if it is phosphorylated (drawing with dots), its binding to MT decreases, and (B) it could also change its conformation and aggregate into filaments. (C) In its extracellular form, tau could exist as monomers or in filaments (aggregated form), and it could interact with neurons.

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