Dendritic distribution of CDK5 mRNA and p35 mRNA, and a glutamate-responsive increase of CDK5/p25 complex contribute to tau hyperphosphorylation

In Alzheimer's disease (AD), abnormally phosphorylated tau in the somatodendrite compartment of brain neurons causes synaptic loss, resulting in neuron death. Although the mechanism by which hyperphosphorylated tau appears in dendrites remains unclear, we have previously reported that local translation of tau mRNA and GSK3β mRNA in response to glutamatergic stimulation triggers an increase of tau protein and initiation of a cycle for amplification of reactivated preexisting GSK3β, respectively. In this study, we investigated the mechanism responsible for neural excitation-dependent activation of another major tau kinase, CDK5, within dendrites. Primary hippocampal neurons were treated with glutamate and examined by in situ hybridization, immunocytochemistry and Western blotting. The mRNAs for both CDK5 and its neural-specific activator, p35, were found to be constitutively distributed in dendrites. Glutamate treatment induced immediate local dendritic translation of these proteins as well as conversion of p35 to p25, which forms the hyper-activated CDK5/p25 complex. This neural excitation-dependent tau phosphorylation by CDK5 was suppressed in the presence of a calpain inhibitor or a NMDA receptor antagonist. Our results indicate that in addition to an increase of dendritic tau and reactivation of preexisting GSK3β, increase and hyper-activation of CDK5 are evoked by translation of dendrite-distributed mRNAs upon NMDA receptor-mediated neural excitation. Hyperphosphorylated tau with AD epitopes is locally produced in dendrites via translational activation of dendrite-distributed mRNAs in response to glutamatergic stimulation. Therefore, tau hyperphosphorylation may play a crucial role in synaptic transduction. •CDK5 mRNA and p35 mRNA are distributed in dendrites, and translated in response to neural excitation.•Glutamate induces calpain-dependent generation of the CDK5/p25 complex in dendrites.•Hyperphosphorylated tau with AD epitopes is synthesized within dendrites in response to neural excitation.