Tau wanders around the brain.

The article discusses research on the ability of mutant tau protein to assemble wild-type tau into filaments and the potential for this pathology to spread to adjacent regions of the brain. It references the study "Transmission and Spreading of Tauopathy in Transgenic Mouse Brain," by Florence J. Clavaguera et al, published in the 2009 issue of the "Nature Cell Biology." Brain extracts were obtained from transgenic mice expressing the Pro301Ser mutant form of tau in humans. The implications of the findings for Alzheimer's disease (AD) are cited.