Impact of age on acute post-TBI neuropathology in mice expressing humanized tau

Abstract

Objectives: We hypothesized that polypathology is more severe in older than younger mice during the acute phase following repetitive mild traumatic brain injury (r-mTBI).
Methods: Young and aged male and female mice transgenic for human tau (hTau) were exposed to r-mTBI or a sham procedure. Twenty-four hours post-last injury, mouse brain tissue was immunostained for alterations in astrogliosis, microgliosis, tau pathology, and axonal injury.
Results: Quantitative analysis revealed a greater percent distribution of glial fibrillary acid protein and Iba-1 reactivity in the brains of all mice exposed to r-mTBI compared to sham controls. However, no noticeable difference was observed between the young and aged groups as initially hypothesized. With
respect to axonal injury, the number of amyloid precursor protein-positive profiles was increased in young vs aged mice post r-mTBI. An increase in tau immunoreactivity was found in young and aged injured male hTau mice.
Conclusions: We report the first evidence in our model that r-mTBI precipitates a complex sequelae of events in aged vs young hTau mice at an acute time point, typified by an increase in phosphorylated tau and astroglisosis, and a diminished microgliosis response and axonal injury. These findings suggest differential age-dependent effects in TBI pathobiology.