Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Research Highlight
  • Published:

Neurodegenerative disease

Linking microbiota to tau-mediated neuronal loss

Nature Reviews Neuroscience volume 24, page 133 (2023)Cite this article

Subjects

Studies in mouse models of Alzheimer disease (AD) have revealed that perturbations of the gut microbiota can affect the deposition of amyloid-β (Aβ) — a peptide widely implicated in AD pathophysiology. However, no studies have shown that such perturbations affect tau-mediated neurodegeneration, another feature of this disease. Now, Seo et al. find that disruption of the gut microbiota affects neuronal loss in a mouse model of tauopathy and that this effect is dependent on expression of apolipoprotein E4 (APOE4).

Multiple isoforms of APOE exist in humans, and they differentially regulate AD risk. APOE*E4 is the strongest genetic risk factor for AD, and the APOE4 protein may regulate tau-mediated neuronal loss. Interestingly, emerging evidence indicates that APOE4 may also exert effects on the gut microbiota.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on SpringerLink
  • Instant access to the full article PDF.

USD 39.95

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

References

Original article

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Nature Reviews Neuroscience http://www.nature.com/nrn/

    Darran Yates

Authors
  1. Darran Yates
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Darran Yates.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Yates, D. Linking microbiota to tau-mediated neuronal loss. Nat Rev Neurosci 24, 133 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41583-023-00681-1

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Version of record:

  • Issue date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41583-023-00681-1

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing