https://translationalneurodegeneration.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s40035-023-00379-5

Intraneuronal accumulation of hyperphosphorylated tau is a defining hallmark of Alzheimer’s disease (AD). However, mouse models imitating AD-exclusive neuronal tau pathologies are lacking. Prof. Jian-Zhi Wang in HUST, in collaboration with us, generated a new tet-on transgenic mouse model expressing truncated human tau N1-368 (termed hTau368), a tau fragment increased in the brains of AD patients and aged mouse brains. Doxycycline (dox) administered in drinking water for 1–2 months at a young age induced overt and reversible human tau accumulation in the brains of hTau368 transgenic mice, predominantly in the hippocampus. Meanwhile, the transgenic mice exhibited AD-like high level of tau phosphorylation, glial activation, loss of mature neurons, impaired hippocampal neurogenesis, synaptic degeneration and cognitive deficits.

This study developed a well-characterized and easy-to-use tool for the investigations and drug development for AD and other tauopathies.

Dr. Gao Yang and Wang Yuying are co-first authors of this article. Prof. Wang Jian-Zhi, Zheng Jie, Zhang Yao and Dr. Gao Yang are co-corresponding authors.