Journal Watch: Lost in propagation – tau induces neuron loss and grid cell dysfunction in transgenic mice

Researchers at Colombia University, New York (NY, USA), have recently demonstrated that tau pathology induces dysfunction in cells specifically tuned to compute spatial information. The research – published recently in Neuron – demonstrates a pathological interaction between tau and grid cells (GCs) in the entorhinal cortex (EC) that culminates in spatial memory deficits reminiscent of early Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Early AD is characterized by the accumulation and aggregation of hyperphosphorylated tau in the EC, the primary site of neurodegeneration in AD [1]. Subsequently, tau spreads in a transynaptic fashion to the hippocampus and the wider neocortex [2]. The EC has...