Mutations in the MAPT gene, which encodes the tau protein, are associated with several neurodegenerative diseases, including frontotemporal dementia (FTD), dementia with epilepsy, and other types of dementia.
N-methyl-D-aspartate receptors mediate epilepsy-induced axonal impairment and tau phosphorylation via activating glycogen synthase kinase-3β and cyclin-dependent kinase 5.
Although aggregates of hyperphosphorylated tau have been observed in patients with epilepsy and in different chemically and electrically generated models of epilepsy, the FTDP-17 tau mutant analyzed here is the first model of genetically modified tau that presents with epilepsy.