Abstract
Tauopathies are a group of neurodegenerative diseases, associated with pathological Tau proteins. The Tau protein is expressed in the nervous system cells and is involved in microtubule network stabilization, via specific binding domains. Abnormal post-translational processes can lead to the loss of Tau stabilizing function. Therefore, acquisition of aggregative and neurotoxic properties results into the accumulation of neurofibrillary tangles in neurons, which are histopathological markers of tauopathies and Alzheimer’s disease. Oligomer formation and aggregation is also associated with Tau mutations specific of different pathologies with distinct etiology. One of the projects led by the team is to characterize the involvement of the neurotrophic factor BDNF in zebrafish models of tauopathies. A decrease in BDNF induced by the peptide Aβ has been observed in patients with Alzheimer’s disease, but few studies have focused on the possible links between BDNF and pathological Tau proteins. Initial results evidenced a decrease in BDNF in zebrafish larvae expressing the pathological protein TauP301L. The main objective of my thesis was the analysis of the neuronal and sensory-motor phenotypes of zebrafish larvae with overexpression of wild type or mutated Tau proteins (TauWT, TauA152T and TauP301L). Tau phosphorylation, neurotoxicity and sensory-motor defects induced by this overexpression were characterized. We next evaluated the neuroprotective role of an exogenous treatment of BDNF on neurotoxicity at the cellular and functional levels. In addition, other signaling pathways that may be involved in the observed deficits were investigated. Our results showed that overexpression of human Tau protein in zebrafish larvae induces Tau hyperphosphorylation, neuronal death and/or axonal retraction, associated with sensory and locomotor deficits. Overexpression of TauWT, or mutated proteins (TauA152T, TauP301L) lead to different locomotor responses: TauWT induced a decrease in locomotor activity, decrease even more pronounced for TauA152T, while TauP301L leads to locomotor hyperactivity of the larvae. In order to rescue the observed phenotypes, we tested neuroprotective factors including lithium chloride (LiCl), known as a GSK3β inhibitor described to improve the deficits induced by TauP301L. LiCl resulted in the recovery of a locomotor phenotype for the TauP301L lineage, similar to the controls. At the same time, an exogenous supply of BDNF, or a TrkB receptor agonist, partially alleviated neurotoxicity and fully restored locomotor defects. The BDNF and LiCl treatments had no beneficial effect on locomotor alterations in larvae expressing the TauWT and TauA152T proteins. In order to test other signaling pathways involved in tauopathies, we next investigated the endoplasmic reticulum stress pathway, or UPR. Our preliminary data indicate several alterations of UPR effectors in larvae, such as an increase in the PERK protein level for larvae expressing TauWT and TauA152T. However, no beneficial effect was observed with a PERK inhibitor on TauWT or TauA152T larvae. In conclusion, our results demonstrate that overexpression of TauA152T or TauP301L proteins leads to Tau protein hyperphosphorylation, and a similar neurotoxicity. Sensory-motor tests were able to discriminate the effects induced by these two mutations. Furthermore, only TauP301L larvae displayed a decrease in the expression of the neurotrophic factor BDNF, that could be rescued by a pharmacological approach with the recovery of the locomotor phenotype. The two mutations studied have different aggregation and propagation properties and our data provide a complementary functional aspect in the perspective of testing new neuroprotective compounds.