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Epidemiological pathology of Tau in the ageing brain: application of staging for neuropil threads (BrainNet Europe protocol) to the MRC cognitive function and ageing brain study

Overview of attention for article published in Acta Neuropathologica Communications, February 2016
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  • In the top 25% of all research outputs scored by Altmetric
  • High Attention Score compared to outputs of the same age (89th percentile)
  • High Attention Score compared to outputs of the same age and source (80th percentile)

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Title
Epidemiological pathology of Tau in the ageing brain: application of staging for neuropil threads (BrainNet Europe protocol) to the MRC cognitive function and ageing brain study
Published in
Acta Neuropathologica Communications, February 2016
DOI 10.1186/s40478-016-0275-x
Pubmed ID
Authors

Stephen B. Wharton, Thais Minett, David Drew, Gillian Forster, Fiona Matthews, Carol Brayne, Paul G. Ince, on behalf of the MRC Cognitive Function and Ageing Neuropathology Study Group

Abstract

Deposition of abnormally phosphorylated tau (phospho-tau) occurs in Alzheimer'sdisease but also with brain ageing. The Braak staging scheme focused on neurofibrillary tangles, butabundant p-tau is also present in neuropil threads, and a recent scheme has been proposed by theBrainNet Europe consortium for staging tau pathology based on neuropil threads. We determined therelationship of threads to tangles, and the value of staging for threads in an unselected population-representative ageing brain cohort. We also determined the prevalence of astroglial tau pathologies, and their relationship to neuronal tau. Phospho-tau pathology was determined by immunohistochemistry (AT8 antibody) in the MRC-CFAS neuropathology cohort. Neuropil threads were staged using the BrainNet Europe protocol for tau pathology, and compared with Braak tangle stages. Astroglial tau pathology was assessed in neo-cortical, mesial temporal and subcortical areas. Cases conformed well to the hierarchical neuropil threads staging of the BrainNet Europe protocol and correlated strongly with Braak staging (r=0.84, p < 0.001). Based on the areas under the receiver operator curves (AUC), incorporating either threads or tangle staging significantly improved dementia case identification to a similar degree over age alone (Braak stage X (2)(1)=10.1, p=0.002; BNE stage X (2)(1)=9.7, p=0.002). Thorn-shaped astrocytes, present in 40 % of cases, were most common in mesial temporal lobe, then brainstem, and were associated with subpial tau-positive neurites (mesial temporal: X (2)(1)=61.3, p < 0.001; brainstem: X (2)(1)=47.9, p < 0.001). Adding thorn astrocytes did not improve dementia prediction (AUC: X (2)(1)=0.77, p=0.381), but there was a weak relationship between numbers of areas involved and staging for threads or tangles (r=0.17, p=0.023). Neuropil threads develop hierarchically in parallel with neurofibrillary tangles. The BrainNet Europe staging protocol is straightforward to apply, and offers similar predictive value for dementia to Braak tangle staging. Astroglial tauopathy, particularly thorn shaped astrocyte formation, does not relate to dementia status, but the association with phospho-tau neurites may suggest a pathogenic relationship to neuronal tau pathology.

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X Demographics

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Mendeley readers

Mendeley readers

The data shown below were compiled from readership statistics for 62 Mendeley readers of this research output. Click here to see the associated Mendeley record.

Geographical breakdown

Country Count As %
United Kingdom 1 2%
Unknown 61 98%

Demographic breakdown

Readers by professional status Count As %
Student > Bachelor 11 18%
Student > Ph. D. Student 10 16%
Student > Master 9 15%
Researcher 6 10%
Student > Doctoral Student 4 6%
Other 11 18%
Unknown 11 18%
Readers by discipline Count As %
Medicine and Dentistry 12 19%
Neuroscience 10 16%
Agricultural and Biological Sciences 9 15%
Psychology 7 11%
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology 5 8%
Other 8 13%
Unknown 11 18%
Attention Score in Context

Attention Score in Context

This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 14. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 12 November 2016.
All research outputs
#2,260,948
of 22,846,662 outputs
Outputs from Acta Neuropathologica Communications
#372
of 1,375 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#42,944
of 398,933 outputs
Outputs of similar age from Acta Neuropathologica Communications
#4
of 21 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 22,846,662 research outputs across all sources so far. Compared to these this one has done particularly well and is in the 90th percentile: it's in the top 10% of all research outputs ever tracked by Altmetric.
So far Altmetric has tracked 1,375 research outputs from this source. They typically receive a lot more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 12.9. This one has gotten more attention than average, scoring higher than 72% of its peers.
Older research outputs will score higher simply because they've had more time to accumulate mentions. To account for age we can compare this Altmetric Attention Score to the 398,933 tracked outputs that were published within six weeks on either side of this one in any source. This one has done well, scoring higher than 89% of its contemporaries.
We're also able to compare this research output to 21 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one has done well, scoring higher than 80% of its contemporaries.