Abnormally modified tau and hypoxic-ischemic brain damage / 中国病理生理杂志

Tau is the most abundant microtubule-associated protein in the brain .If tau protein lost the normal function, the toxic effect should be showed and plays an important role in various central nervous system lesions .Hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy ( HIE) is an important cause of mortality in the neonatal period and it is mainly characterized by neurological deficits such as cognitive limitations .However , the mechanism still needs further study , and the underlying re-lationship between tau protein and HIE lacks direct evidence .Some recent clinical study reported that tau protein expres-sion elevated in the serum of asphyxia children and had a high correlation with behavior deficient .In this review , we focus on 3 key points to provide new insights to understand the tau protein-related pathogenesis of HIE as followed:(1) tau pro-tein and its phosphorylation change during central nervous system development ;(2) comparison of tau protein expression in developing brain and adult brain under some neurological disorders;(3) potential pathological change of tau in HIE related pathological conditions , such as dysmyelination , inflammation response and glutamate metabolism .

Antagonism of Dizocilpine Maleate and Taurine to Methylmercury-induced Glutamate Metabolism Disturbance in Cerebrum of Rats / 环境与健康杂志

Objective To determine the antagonism of dizocilpine maleate(MK-801) and taurine to glutamate metabolism disturbance induced by methylmercury(MeHg) in cerebrum.Methods Forty Wistar rats were randomly divided into five groups.The first group was the control group,the second one was low dose MeHg-exposed group and the third was high dose MeHg-exposed group,these three groups were given physiological saline respectively.The fourth group was subcutaneously injected with 0.3 ?mol/kg of MK-801 and the five group was subcutaneously injected with 1 mmol/kg of taurine.Two hours later,the control group was intraperitoneally given physiological saline,the second group was intraperitoneally given 4 ?mol/kg of methylmercury chloride,the third,fourth and five groups were given 12 ?mol/kg of methylmercury chloride.The administration above was given five times a week for 4 weeks.The contents of mercury and Glu and Gln and the activities of GS and PAG in pallium were determined.Results Compared with the control group,the activities of PAG and the contents of mercury and Glu in MeHg-exposed groups increased significantly,the activities of GS and the contents of Gln decreased significantly.Compared with high dose MeHg group,in MK-801 and taurine treated groups,no significant differences were seen in the contents of mercury,and the contents of Glu,the activities of PAG were decreased significantly,the contents of Gln and the activities of GS were increased significantly.Conclusion Methylmercury can disorder glutamate metabolism in cerebrum of rats,and MK-801 and taurine can effectively counteract the adverse effects of methylmercury.