Interestingly, the increased accumulation of polyubiquitinated tau protein in the neurons of OLEF rats was accompanied by a decrease in p62 protein levels that is responsible for degradation of ubiquitinated tau by autophagy and proteasomal pathways In a similar study by Carvalho et al. using 3xTgAD and T2DM mouse models, a significant reduction was observed in the levels of autophagy markers ATG7 and LC3-II in the cerebral cortex and hippocampus of both these mice (Carvalho et al., 2015). This evidence concerns the gene MAPT and type 2 diabetes mellitus.