Microtubule-associated protein tau, heparan sulphate and α-synuclein in several neurodegenerative diseases with dementia

Microtubule-associated protein tau forms neurofibrillary lesions in Alzheimer’s disease and several other neurodegenerative disorders, such as Niemann-Pick disease type C, subacute sclerosing panencephalitis, argyrophilic grain disease, myotonic dystrophy and motor neuron disease with neurofibrillary tangles. In this study we have compared the characteristics of tau pathology in these diseases using immunohistochemistry and phosphorylation-dependent and phosphorylation-independent anti-tau antibodies. The pattern of staining for heparan sulphate and α-synuclein was also investigated. We show that in all of these diseases tau deposits were stained by all anti-tau antibodies used, with the exception of argyrophilic grains which do not stain with antibody 12E8, confirming our previous findings. Heparan sulphate staining was present to a variable extent in all of these diseases, with the exception of subacute sclerosing panencephalitis, in which no staining was observed. Heparan sulphate staining coexisted with tau staining. In some cases it was more extensive than the tau staining. α-Synuclein staining was present in presynaptic terminals with the exception of one case of Alzheimer’s disease, in which α-synuclein-positive Lewy bodies were observed in the hippocampal formation. These findings indicate that tau deposits are antigenically similar in several neurodegenerative diseases and that tau staining is often associated with heparan sulphate staining, supporting the concept that heparan sulphate may be involved in the assembly of tau protein into filaments. Received: 14 August 1998 / Revised, accepted: 12 November 1998