MECHANISM OF ALZHEIMER NEUROFIBRILLARY DEGENERATION AND THE FORMATIONOF TANGLES

The microtubule-associated protein (MAP) tau, which is abnormally hype rphosphorylated in the brain of patients with Alzheimer disease, seque sters normal MAPs and disassembles microtubules. The association betwe en the abnormal tau and normal tau, and not MAP1 or MAP2, produces tan gles of filaments. The breakdown of microtubule network most likely re sults in compromised axonal transport and retrograde degeneration of t he affected neurons.