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Constitutive Alzheimer's-Type Tau Epitopes In A Neuritogenic Rat Cns Cell Line, Mary P. Lambert, Shasta Sabo, Chi Zhang, S. Ather Enam, William L. Klein

Section of Neurosurgery

Paired helical filaments (PHFs) of Alzheimer's disease (AD) largely comprise hyperphosphorylated forms of the cytoskeletal protein tau. AD-type tau phosphoepitopes, detected by various monoclonal antibodies, are absent from normal adult neurons, but recent studies have shown that their expression may contribute to neuritogenesis and axon differentiation in the developing nervous system. Therefore, we have examined a brain nerve cell line that is spontaneously neuritogenic for possible expression of AD-type tau epitopes. The neuritogenic rat brain cell line B103 was found to constitutively produce two AD-related epitopes of tau, detected by cellular immunofluorescence studies with the PHF-1 and Alz-50 monoclonal antibodies. …