Tau is a microtubule-associated protein (MAP) that is abundant in neurons, where it promotes the assembly and maintains the structure of microtubules. It is also found in the neurofibrillary tangles (NFT) in Alzheimer’s disease (AD). While under normal conditions, the concentration of free metal ions in the brain is very low and does not affect neurological function, the brain tissue of AD patients has been shown to contain large amounts of transition metal ions, such as Cu²⁺, Fe³⁺ or Zn²⁺, and zinc concentrations in AD brains can reach as high as 10–300 μM. Low micromolar zinc concentrations have been shown to accelerate the fibrillization of human tau protein. Therefore, zinc binding to tau appears to be a substantial contributor to tauopathy and techniques to analyze and quantify the interaction between tau and zinc are essential for therapy development.

protein – ion interaction | tau | metal ions | Alzheimer’s disease | aggregation | MO-P-069