Fig. 8

Expression of hTau40^AT alters protein degradation systems in aged mice. a Western blots of cortical extracts showing expression levels of autophagy- (LC3II, p62) and proteasome-related (PSMD13, proteasome 20S C2) proteins in 20 months old hTau40^AT and WT mice. β-actin serves as loading control. b Quantification of (a). Increased protein levels of LC3II (+60 %) and decreased protein levels of p62 (−35 %) clearly indicate an activation of autophagy and a reduction of proteasomal degradation (PSMD13, proteasome 20S C2: −40-60 %) in old hTau40^AT mice (red bars) compared to old WT mice (grey bars). Protein levels were normalized to β-actin. Each bar represents mean ± SEM of n = 5 animals. Statistics: two-sided t test indicates significant differences between WT and hTau40^AT mice (*:p < 0.05, **:p < 0.01). WT: wildtype; A152T: hTau40^AT transgenic mouse strain; mo: months; n.s., not significant