The Effect Of Intermittent Hypoxia On Phosphorylated Tau In Hippocampus Of Mice

Object: To explore the expression of phosphorylated tau (p-tau) and the correlated enzymes afterintermittent hypoxia (IH) in hippocampus of mouse.Methods: Thirty health male kunming mice,8-week-old, were split freely to the control group (n=5) andIH group (n=25). The mouse of IH group were suffered8hours IH with IH equipment, and then, weresacrificed by decapitation at1h、6h、12h、24h and48h after IH(n=5, per group) respectively. The mice ofcontrol group was placed in the control equipment without IH, and then, sacrificed by decapitationimmediately. Morphological changes were observed with HE. The expression of the total of tauprotein(T-tau), phosphorylated tau (P-tau), glycogen synthase kinase3β(GSK3β) and phosphorylatedmitogen activated protein kinase (P-P38MAPK) were examined by immunohistochemistry at1h,6h,12h,24h,48h after IH in hippocampus of mouse.Results:1、In IH group, the quantity of hippocampal neurons was decreased and mussily distributed, theintercellular space become widened compared with the control group. Moreover, some cells appearkaryopyknosis and loss of cytoplasm at24h and48h after IH.2、It had no statistically significant difference about the OD values of T-tau positive neurons between thecontrol group and IH groups. It was increased in the OD values of p-tau positive neurons in6h,12h,24hand48h after IH contrast to the control group (P＜0.05), especially the24h group was the highest (P＜0.05). It was higher in the OD values of GSK-3β positive neurons in6h,12h,24h and48h after IH than thecontrol group (P＜0.05). The24h after IH was higher than any other groups except the12h after IH (P＜0.05). The expression of p38MAPK in1h,6h,12h,24h and48h after IH were higher than the control group(P＜0.05). The12h after IH was the highest.Conclusion: IH can increase phosphorylation of tau protein, possibly due to elevations in GSK-3β andp38MAPK.