SCIENCE@home

ABSTRACT

Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) total tau (t-tau) is considered a biomarker of neuronal degeneration alongside brain atrophy and fluid neurofilament light chain protein (NfL) in biomarker models of Alzheimer’s disease (AD). However, previous studies show that CSF t-tau correlates strongly with synaptic dysfunction/degeneration biomarkers like neurogranin (Ng) and synaptosomal-associated protein 25 (SNAP25). Here, we compare the association between CSF t-tau and synaptic degeneration and axonal/neuronal degeneration biomarkers in cognitively unimpaired and impaired groups from two independent cohorts. We observe a stronger correlation between CSF t-tau and synaptic biomarkers than neurodegeneration biomarkers in both groups. Synaptic biomarkers explain a greater proportion of variance in CSF t-tau levels compared to neurodegeneration biomarkers. Notably, CSF t-tau levels are elevated in individuals with abnormalities only in synaptic biomarkers, but not in individuals with abnormalities only in neurodegeneration biomarkers. Our findings suggest that CSF t-tau is a closer proxy for synaptic degeneration than for axonal/neuronal degeneration. CSF total tau (t-tau), often used as a marker of neuronal damage, is more strongly linked to synaptic degeneration. Here, the authors show that t-tau better reflects synaptic dysfunction than axonal or neuronal loss in Alzheimer’s disease.

PUBLICATION RECORD

CITATION MAP

EXTRACTION MAP

CLAIMS

  • No claims are published for this paper.

CONCEPTS

  • No concepts are published for this paper.

REFERENCES

Showing 1-60 of 60 references · Page 1 of 1

CITED BY