No Overt Deficits in Aged Tau-Deficient C57Bl/6.Mapttm1(EGFP)Kit GFP Knockin Mice

PLoS One. 2016 Oct 13;11(10):e0163236. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0163236. eCollection 2016.

Abstract

Several mouse lines with knockout of the tau-encoding MAPT gene have been reported in the past; they received recent attention due to reports that tau reduction prevented Aβ-induced deficits in mouse models of Alzheimer's disease. However, the effects of long-term depletion of tau in vivo remained controversial. Here, we used the tau-deficient GFP knockin line Mapttm1(EGFP)kit on a pure C57Bl/6 background and subjected a large cohort of males and females to a range of motor, memory and behavior tests and imaging analysis, at the advanced age of over 16 months. Neither heterozygous nor homozygous Mapttm1(EGFP)kit mice presented with deficits or abnormalities compared to wild-type littermates. Differences to reports using other tau knockout models may be due to different genetic backgrounds, respective gene targeting strategies or other confounding factors, such as nutrition. To this end, we report no functional or morphological deficits upon tau reduction or depletion in aged mice.

MeSH terms

  • Alzheimer Disease / genetics*
  • Alzheimer Disease / physiopathology
  • Animals
  • Brain / metabolism
  • Brain / physiopathology
  • Disease Models, Animal
  • Female
  • Gene Knock-In Techniques
  • Gene Knockout Techniques*
  • Green Fluorescent Proteins / genetics
  • Locomotion
  • Male
  • Maze Learning
  • Memory
  • Mice, Inbred C57BL
  • Mice, Transgenic
  • tau Proteins / genetics*

Substances

  • Mapt protein, mouse
  • tau Proteins
  • Green Fluorescent Proteins

Grants and funding

This work was funded by National Health and Medical Research Council (#1037746, #1020562, #1069173, #1003083; nhmrc.gov.au), the Australian Research Council (#DP130102027, #CE11000102; arc.gov.au), and UNSW Sydney (unsw.edu.au). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.