How pathological tau induces spatial disorientation

Neural mechanisms underlying spatial disorientation in dementia is unclear.

The researchers show that an early cognitive biomarker of dementia, spatial disorientation, can be induced in mice by expressing pathological tau in the anterodorsal nucleus (ADn) of the thalamus.

The authors observed reduced directionality, lower directional coherence, and altered burst firing in the head direction cells of ADn nucleus, affecting the animal’s sense of direction during spatial learning.

https://www.cell.com/cell-reports/fulltext/S2211-1247(25)01382-8

https://sciencemission.com/Pathological-tau-alters-head-direction-signaling