Tau Accumulation in Primary Motor Cortex of Variant Alzheimer's Disease with Spastic Paraparesis

Abstract

We studied topographic distribution of tau and amyloid-β in a patient with variant Alzheimer's disease with spastic paraparesis (VarAD) by comparing AD patients. The proband developed progressive memory impairment, dysarthria, and spastic paraparesis at age 23. Heterozygous missense mutation (L166P) was found in exon 6 of presenilin-1 gene. The proband showed prominently increased amyloid binding in striatum and cerebellum and asymmetrical tau binding in the primary sensorimotor cortex contralateral to the side more affected by spasticity. We suspect that upper motor neuron dysfunctions may be attributed to excessive abnormal tau accumulation rather than amyloid-β in the primary motor cortex.