Journal: Molecular Neurodegeneration
Article Title: Tau oligomers modulate synapse fate by eliciting progressive bipartite synapse dysregulation and synapse loss
doi: 10.1186/s13024-026-00928-2
Figure Lengend Snippet: A brief tau oligomer exposure causes a prolonged degenerative effect in human neurons. A Workflow indicating that the 30-min treatment with tau oligomers was followed by different intervals of time (30 min, 1 h, 24 h, 7 days, or 14 days) before the fixation of human neuron cultures for experiments. B Confocal images of human neurons treated with oligomerized tau conjugated with Fluorescein-5-isothiocyanate (tau-FITC) (green) showed colocalization (white arrowheads) of tau-FITC with Synapsin (blue) and PSD-95 (red). Scale bar: 5 μm. C Representative confocal images of human neurons at 30 min, 1 h and 24 h after the 30 min exposure with oligomerized tau-FITC as described in A . Scale bar: 5 μm. D Quantification of the integrated intensity of tau-FITC fluorescence at synapses in human neurons that were treated with oligomerized tau-FITC for 30 min and fixed at different time points A ( n = 12 images/group; ** p < 0.01, *** p < 0.001, one-way ANOVA, Bonferroni post hoc analyses). E-H Representative images of NeuN immunolabeling, as a neuronal marker, in vehicle-treated control neurons and in neurons at either ( E ) 7 or ( G ) 14 days after the 30-min exposure to tau oligomers. ( F , H ) The density of NeuN-positive cells in the cultures was calculated and compared with or without tau oligomer exposure ( n = 12 images/group; no significant difference, Unpaired Student’s t -test). Scale bar: 100 mm. I-L Representative confocal images of MAP2 immunostaining in neurons at ( I ) 7 or ( K ) 14 days after the 30-min tau oligomer treatment and in neurons treated with vehicle control. Scale bars: 20 μm. The intensity of MAP2 immunolabeling in dendrites of human neurons was quantified at ( J ) 7 days ( n = 12 images/group; no significant difference, Unpaired Student’s t -test) and ( L ) 14 days ( n = 12 images/group; *** p < 0.001, Unpaired Student’s t -test) post-oligomer exposure. Values are given as means ± SEM
Article Snippet: Primary antibodies used for western blot and immunocytochemistry were: Tau5 (AB_80579, Abcam), Streptavin HRP (S911, Invitrogen), GAPDH (MAB374, Sigma), Rabbit flag (F7425, Sigma), Mouse flag (F3165, Sigma), PSD-95 (MA1046, ThermoFisher), GluA2/3 (AB1506, MilliporeSigma), Cy3 Streptavidin (AB_2337244, Jackson Immunoresearch), Mouse vGluT1 (MAB5502, MilliporeSigma), Guinea Pig vGluT1 (AB5905, MilliporeSigma), GluA1 (ABN241, MilliporeSigma), GluN1 (114 011, SynapticSystems), Synapsin (5297 S, Cell Signaling), Rabbit MAP2 (4542 S, Cell Signaling), Chicken MAP2 (NB300 213, Novus Biologicals), NeuN ( AB177487 , Abcam), GFAP ( PA110004 , Invitrogen), Rabbit GSK3β (ab32391, Abcam), and MYO5A ( AB244249 , Abcam).
Techniques: Fluorescence, Immunolabeling, Marker, Control, Immunostaining