PUBLICATION

A zebrafish model of tauopathy allows in vivo imaging of neuronal cell death and drug evaluation

Authors
Paquet, D., Bhat, R., Sydow, A., Mandelkow, E.M., Berg, S., Hellberg, S., Fälting, J., Distel, M., Köster, R.W., Schmid, B., and Haass, C.
ID
ZDB-PUB-090417-2
Date
2009
Source
J. Clin. Invest.   119(5): 1382-1395 (Journal)
Registered Authors
Distel, Martin, Haass, Christian, Köster, Reinhard W., Paquet, Dominik, Schmid, Bettina
Keywords
none
MeSH Terms
  • Phosphorylation/drug effects
  • Spinal Cord/metabolism
  • Spinal Cord/pathology
  • Protein Conformation
  • Animals
  • Motor Neurons/drug effects
  • Motor Neurons/metabolism
  • Motor Neurons/pathology
  • Cell Death
  • Animals, Genetically Modified
  • Models, Molecular
  • tau Proteins/genetics
  • tau Proteins/metabolism
  • Drug Design
  • Drug Evaluation, Preclinical/methods*
  • Sequence Alignment
  • Zebrafish*/genetics
  • Synaptotagmins/metabolism
  • Tauopathies/drug therapy*
  • Tauopathies/metabolism
  • Tauopathies/pathology*
  • Humans
  • Embryo, Nonmammalian/abnormalities
  • Embryo, Nonmammalian/drug effects
  • Embryo, Nonmammalian/metabolism
  • Embryo, Nonmammalian/pathology
  • Neurons/drug effects
  • Neurons/metabolism
  • Neurons/pathology*
  • Escape Reaction
  • Larva/anatomy & histology
  • Larva/drug effects
  • Larva/metabolism
  • Enzyme Inhibitors/chemistry
  • Enzyme Inhibitors/pharmacokinetics
  • Enzyme Inhibitors/pharmacology
  • Glycogen Synthase Kinase 3/antagonists & inhibitors
  • Glycogen Synthase Kinase 3/chemistry
  • Glycogen Synthase Kinase 3/genetics
  • Molecular Structure
  • Luminescent Proteins/genetics
  • Luminescent Proteins/metabolism
  • Disease Models, Animal*
PubMed
19363289 Full text @ J. Clin. Invest.
Abstract
Our aging society is confronted with a dramatic increase of patients suffering from tauopathies, which include Alzheimer disease and certain frontotemporal dementias. These disorders are characterized by typical neuropathological lesions including hyperphosphorylation and subsequent aggregation of TAU protein and neuronal cell death. Currently, no mechanism-based cures are available. We generated fluorescently labeled TAU transgenic zebrafish, which rapidly recapitulated key pathological features of tauopathies, including phosphorylation and conformational changes of human TAU protein, tangle formation, neuronal and behavioral disturbances, and cell death. Due to their optical transparency and small size, zebrafish larvae are well suited for both in vivo imaging and drug development. TAU-induced neuronal cell death was imaged by time-lapse microscopy in vivo. Furthermore, we used this zebrafish model to identify compounds targeting the TAU kinase glycogen synthase kinase 3beta (GSK3beta). We identified a newly developed highly active GSK3beta inhibitor, AR-534, by rational drug design. AR-534 reduced TAU phosphorylation in TAU transgenic zebrafish. This transgenic zebrafish model may become a valuable tool for further studies of the neuropathology of dementia.
Genes / Markers
Figures
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Expression
Phenotype
Mutations / Transgenics
Human Disease / Model
Sequence Targeting Reagents
Fish
Antibodies
Orthology
Engineered Foreign Genes
Mapping