ScienceIsSexy420 t1_iu6mtix wrote on October 28, 2022 at 11:14 PM

Reply to comment by FlowersForAlgerVon in Does the cerebral spinal fluid of people with Alzheimer's have a notably different pH from 'normal' people's? by wrhollin

Very interesting. I'm curious, do you know what's the proposed mechanism is for tau proteins and CTE? Is the idea that the concussions cause cellular death, resulting in the spreading of tau proteins via invagination?

TheFencingJared t1_iu72p6o wrote on October 29, 2022 at 1:22 AM

I believe that the current theory holds that it's likely a result of a lot of different things. One big mechanism we're learning about is dysregulated TDP-43, which is an RNA-binding protein that regulates tau and is involved in ribosome metabolism. Abnormal TDP-43 pathology has been found in a ton of cases of CTE, including cytoplasmic neuronal inclusions, neurites, and glial inclusions. In mouse models, TBI has resulted in upregulation of TDP-43, and in diseases associated with odd TDP-43 metabolism, tau metabolism is often altered too.

That being said, there are probably tons of other factors, and how p-tau is able to make more p-tau after neurons die and spill it out (or after it's transported out of neurons like trash) is still under investigation