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

ABSTRACT

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 .