MAPT and neurodegenerative disease: In addition, this protein is involved in the mechanisms of signal transduction, interaction with the cytoskeleton actin, neuritis outgrowth, and stabilization during brain development.[21,22] An alteration of the Tau protein has been found in neurodegenerative diseases.[21] Other studies[21,23] correlate the aggregates of this protein with acute brain damage such as ischemia.