Misfolded Tau Protein in the Retina

Introduction: Tau protein plays a crucial role in many neurodegenerative diseases including Alzheimer's disease (AD). Tau inclusions and amyloid beta (AB) depositions have been described in the post-mortem retina exams of AD patients. Cryo- electron microscopy (Cryo- EM) was recently used to detect the detailed structure of Tau filaments. Methods and Result: We examined the retinas of PET-proven live AD patients by spectral domain optical scanning tomography (SD- OCT) and fundus auto fluoresce in (FAF). The hyper or hypo- fluorescent lesions in the retina were scanned by OCT and images that completely corresponded with the histopathological and Cryo- EM shapes of Tau filaments were observed. Conclusion: Retinal Tau is a very promising target to detect early changes in AD and retinal imaging may be an exciting and trustable technique to predict and monitor the disease.