Chronic mild stress in mice promotes cognitive impairment and CDK5-dependent tau hyperphosphorylation

This study was undertaken to know whether cognition deficits produced by chronic mild stress (CMS) were associated with pathological markers of Alzheimer's disease (AD). The results show that the impairment in the Morris water maze test induced by CMS correlated with an increase in CDK5-dependent phospho-tau levels and with an increase in APP processing. Mice exposed to CMS may then constitute a non-transgenic model for sporadic forms of AD.

Research highlights
► Chronic mild stress (CMS) in wild-type-mice induces cognition deficits associated to pathological markers of Alzheimer's disease (AD).
► CMS induces tau hyperphosphorylation and increases APP processing.
► Chronic mild stress could be use for developing models of sporadic forms of AD.