Figure 3.

The slow axonal transport of RW mutant tau is retarded in the ventral roots of RW tau Tg mice. SDS-PAGE shows progressive retardation of the slow axonal transport for tau in the ventral roots (VR) and contiguous spinal nerves (SN) of RW line 37 tau Tg mice at 2 months of age (A, C), at 6 months of age (E, G), and at 12 months of age (I, K) compared with age-matched hWT tau Tg mice, but the slow axonal transport of NFL remains the same in the RW and hWT tau Tg mice at 2 months (B, D), 6 months (F, H), and 12 months of age (J, L). Similar retardation of RW tau transport was also detected in a second RW line, i.e., line 60 at 6 months of age (M, O), with no obvious differences in NFL transport (N, P). tau or NFL protein samples were collected by immunoprecipitation with the anti-tau antibody 17026 (A, C, E, G, I, K, M, O) or the anti-NFL antibody (B, D, F, H, J, L, N, P) 7 d after injection of [³⁵S]methionine into spinal cord (SC). The graphs illustrate quantitative measurements of tau (C, G, K, O) and NFL (D, H, L, P) proteins conveyed by slow axonal transport in pairs of age-matched RW and hWT Tg mice (n = 6 per age group). At all ages studies, slow axonal transport of tau in both lines of RW Tg mice is significantly reduced compared with hWT, but no differences were found in the slow axonal transport of NFL between the RW lines and hWT tau Tg mice. ^*p < 0.05; ^**p < 0.01.