Increased tau phosphorylation but absence of formation of neurofibrillary tangles in mice double transgenic for human tau and Alzheimer mutant (M146L) presenilin-1

Neurofibrillary tangles, composed of tau proteins, are a key lesion observed in sporadic forms of Alzheimer's disease and in familial forms associated with mutations of presenilin-7 (PS1). We have generated a double transgenic mouse line expressing a human tau isoform and a mutated form of PS1 (M146L) in neurons. Increased expression of the PS1 holoprotein was observed in the tau/PS1 transgenic mice and the proteolytic fragments of PS1 did not appear to be modified. A somatodendritic accumulation of the transgenic tau and an increase in tau phosphorylation were observed in both tau- and tau/PS1 transgenic mice. Neurofibrillary tangles were not observed in animals analyzed up to 17 months. Immunoprecipitation of tau from brain homogenates demonstrated its binding with active glycogen synthase kinase-3beta in control, tau- and tau/PS1 transgenic lines. These results suggest that overexpression of this Alzheimer mutant PS1 in vivo is not by itself sufficient to induce the formation of neurofibrillary tangles, even in neurons co-expressing and accumulating a human tau isoform. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.