Fig. 6

Astrocytes with intracellular Tau-deposits are toxic to neurons in a long-term co-culture set-up. a Four weeks of co-culturing with Tau-F-containing astrocytes, resulted in various forms of endogenous tau deposits in neurons (white arrows). The major types of tau deposits found in the neurons that have been co-cultured with tau-exposed astrocytes were strings of small bead shaped aggregates (1) and spherical clusters (2). b WB analysis of the four-week co-cultures using antibodies for Gsk3-β, PP2A and pTau231. c TUNEL staining of co-cultures where astrocytes have been pre-exposed to either Tau-F or neuronal corpses with tau pathology (NC Tau.F). d Quantification of TUNEL positive nuclei/field. e–i Patch-clamp readings of neurons in co-culture with control astrocytes or astrocytes that had been exposed to Tau-F or neuronal corpses with tau pathology. The graphs show e the resting membrane potential relative -65 mV, f sEPSC frequency g sEPSC amplitude h mEPSC frequency i mEPSC amplitude. Traces for patch-clamp readings are shown in Additional file 7: Fig. S6. Scale bars = 50 µm. Statistical analysis in b and d was performed using Kruskal Wallis test. Details about the statistical analysis for the electrophysiology data in e-i is outline in Additional file 9: Table.S2. *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.005, ****p < 0.0001