Tau deposition in non-fluent primary progressive aphasia follows the language network

Conclusion: nfvPPA patients showed a high tau concentration in the anterior node of the language network (Broca’s area), where degeneration begins in nfvPPA, and a lesser tau increase in the posterior node of the language network, in the temporal cortex, indicating that initial tau deposition in the frontal lobe, corroborated by the clinical findings, spread through the arcuate fasciculus to the temporal language area. As expected, the arcuate fasciculus was thinned out on the left hemisphere, suggesting that it is the pathway traveled by tau, associated with neuronal and axonal degeneration. This finding is the first in vivo demonstration that, in neurodegenerative dementia, tau propagates in a prion-like manner Research Support: N/A
Source: Journal of Nuclear Medicine - Category: Nuclear Medicine Authors: Tags: Novel Clinical Applications in Tauopathy and Epilepsy Source Type: research