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49/100

✓ Peer-reviewed alzhub usefulness score 49 out of 100. Lewy body dementia

Topic: Brain proteins, microglia and lab models

Plain-language summary

Neurofibrillary tangles (NFTs) are a pathological hallmark of Alzheimer's disease and other tauopathies, but recent studies in a conditional mouse model of tauopathy (rTg4510) have suggested that NFT formation can be dissociated from memory loss and neurodegeneration. This suggests that NFTs are not the major neurotoxic tau species, at least during the early stages of pathogenesis. To identify other neurotoxic tau protein species, we performed biochemical analyses on brain tissues from the rTg4510 mouse model and then correlated the levels of these tau proteins with memory loss. We describe the identification and characterization of two forms of tau multimers (140 and 170 kDa), whose molecular weight suggests an oligomeric aggregate, that accumulate early in the pathogenic cascade in this mouse model. Similar tau multimers were detected in a second mouse model of tauopathy (JNPL3) and in tissue from patients with Alzheimer's disease and FTDP-17 (frontotemporal dementia and parkinsonism linked to chromosome 17). Moreover, levels of the tau multimers correlated consistently with memory loss at various ages in the rTg4510 mouse model. Our findings suggest that accumulation of early-stage aggregated tau species, before the formation of NFT, is associated with the development of functional deficits during the pathogenic progression of tauopathy.

What this study adds

Evidence grade: Low

In a mouse model of tauopathy, early-stage aggregated tau multimers accumulated before tangles formed and their levels tracked with memory loss, suggesting these early aggregates rather than tangles may be the harmful species. This is animal and tissue research that points to possible targets, but no treatment was tested in patients.

Taken from this record’s own fields, not from reading the paper. The grade is assigned from the abstract’s wording; what that means.

Cite this study APA, Vancouver, BibTeX · download .bib or .ris

APA 7th

Berger, Z., Roder, H., Hanna, A., Carlson, A., Rangachari, V., Yue, M., et al. (2007). Accumulation of pathological tau species and memory loss in a conditional model of tauopathy. The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience. https://doi.org/10.1523/jneurosci.0587-07.2007

Vancouver

Berger Z, Roder H, Hanna A, Carlson A, Rangachari V, Yue M, et al. Accumulation of pathological tau species and memory loss in a conditional model of tauopathy. The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience. 2007. doi:10.1523/jneurosci.0587-07.2007. PMID: 17409229.

BibTeX

@article{berger2007-17409229,
  author  = {Berger, Z. and Roder, H. and Hanna, A. and Carlson, A. and Rangachari, V. and Yue, M. and Wszolek, Z. and Ashe, K. and others},
  title   = {{Accumulation of pathological tau species and memory loss in a conditional model of tauopathy}},
  journal = {The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience},
  year    = {2007},
  doi     = {10.1523/jneurosci.0587-07.2007},
  pmid    = {17409229},
  url     = {https://doi.org/10.1523/jneurosci.0587-07.2007}
}

Built from the record alzhub holds for this paper, not looked up. Volume, issue and page numbers are not held in the record. The record's author list ends in “et al.”, so not every author is named. Check the citation against the original before you use it.

How to read this study

Design: our record does not state a study design, so check the methods section of the original before weighing the result.
Size: the record gives no participant count. Look for one in the original before trusting a pattern.
Effect: the record gives no effect size, so the summary above cannot say how large any difference was.

What the evidence grade means here

This page is graded low. alzhub.org assigns the grade automatically from keywords in the abstract, not from reading the paper. Low means the abstract matched neither pattern. It is the default label, and it does not mean the work is poor; many sound lab and imaging papers land here. It can add at most 5 of the 100 points in the study score, and it is a label about design, not a verdict on whether the findings are true.

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Key findings

Neurofibrillary tangles (NFTs) are a pathological hallmark of Alzheimer's disease and other tauopathies, but recent studies in a conditional mouse model of tauopathy (rTg4510) have suggested that NFT formation can be dissociated from memory loss and neurodegeneration.
This suggests that NFTs are not the major neurotoxic tau species, at least during the early stages of pathogenesis.
Our findings suggest that accumulation of early-stage aggregated tau species, before the formation of NFT, is associated with the development of functional deficits during the pathogenic progression of tauopathy.

Why it matters

Study details

Evidence strengthLow

How this study scored 49/100

Published in a peer-reviewed journal. Scored zero for study design, sample size, effect reported, studied in people and randomized / blinded because the record does not state it.

Component	Points	Why
Journal tier	7 / 10	Tier 3 — peer-reviewed journal (The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience)
Journal's citation record	4 / 4	Journal of Neuroscience: journal h-index 651 (OpenAlex, 2026-10-29)
Study design	0 / 12	No study design recorded — scores zero, not guessed (not stated in the record — scored 0)
Strength of evidence	1 / 5	Rated “low” in our summary
Peer-review validation	10 / 10	Peer-reviewed. Published as an article in a named peer-reviewed journal.
How recent	1 / 5	2007 — within 20 year(s) of the newest study here
Sample size	0 / 4	Participant count not stated — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0)
Effect reported	0 / 3	No effect size reported — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0)
Studied in people	0 / 3	Not stated whether this was studied in people — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0)
Randomized / blinded	0 / 2	No randomization or blinding stated — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0)
Times cited	6 / 7	Cited 485 times (OpenAlex, 2026-10-10)
Citations per year	4 / 5	23.1 citations a year over 21 year(s) since 2007
Impact for its field and year	4 / 6	Cited 13.3× the average for papers of its field and year (OpenAlex FWCI)
Cited by studies here	3 / 6	Cited by 13 other studies in this library
Still being cited	2 / 4	Cited 30 times in 2024–2026 (2026 still in progress; OpenAlex)
Senior author's track record	2 / 4	Last-listed author Christopher Janus: h-index 37 (OpenAlex, whole career)
Institution's track record	2 / 3	University of Minnesota: institution h-index 1,568 (OpenAlex)
Multicenter collaboration	1 / 3	OpenAlex lists 2 institution(s) in 1 country
Indexed in PubMed	2 / 2	Indexed in PubMed (PMID 17409229)
Free to read	0 / 2	Behind a paywall — scores zero
Total	49 / 100	—

What each of these 20 components measures, and what this score is not →

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