Increased tau immunoreactivity in oligodendrocytes following human stroke and head injury.

Tau immunohistochemistry was performed on post-mortem brain tissue from patients who died following head injury or stroke and from neurologically normal controls. Tau-positive oligodendrocytes were detected with three different tau antibodies in head injured or stroke patients, but not in control cases. Tau-positive oligodendrocytes were detected 2 h following head injury indicating that accumulation of tau may be an acute response of these cells to brain injury. The mechanisms underlying accumulation of tau in oligodendrocytes after acute brain injury may be similar to those which occur in chronic neurodegenerative conditions such as progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP) and multi-system atrophy (MSA).