Tau protein immunoreactivity in muscle fibers with rimmed vacuoles differs from that in regenerating muscle fibers.

To determine whether tau protein found in muscle fibers with rimmed vacuoles and in regenerating fibers was phosphorylated, we examined eight muscle biopsy samples containing rimmed vacuoles (from five patients with distal myopathy with rimmed vacuole formation and three patients with inclusion body myositis) and three muscle biopsy samples from patients with Duchenne muscular dystrophy containing numerous regenerating fibers. Although both rimmed vacuolated and regenerating fibers had increased immunoreactivity against tubulin and tau protein, tau protein in the former was more highly phosphorylated than that in the latter. While very few microtubules in muscle fibers with rimmed vacuoles were recognizable by electron microscopy, regenerating fibers, especially immature ones, contained numerous microtubules. Since tau protein found in vacuolated fibers is hyperphosphorylated, it can be considered to have reduced ability to bind tubulin molecules. Thus, the tau protein cannot stabilize microtubules, resulting in their depolymerization even in the presence of tubulin molecules.