In Alzheimer's disease, neurofibrillary degeneration results from the aggregation of abnormally phosphorylated Tau proteins into filaments and it may be related to the reactivation of mitotic mechanisms. In order to investigate the link between Tau phosphorylation and mitosis, Xenopus laevis oocytes in which most of the M-phase regulators have been discovered were used as a cell model. The human Tau isoform htau412 (2+3-10+) was microinjected into prophase I oocytes that were then stimulated by progesterone that activate cyclindependent kinase pathways. Hyperphosphorylation of the Tau isoform, which is characterized by a decrease of its electrophoretic mobility and its labelling by a number of phosphorylation-dependent antibodies, was observed at the time of germinal vesicle breakdown. Surprisingly, Tau immunoreactivity, considered as typical of Alzheimer's pathology (AT100 and phospho-Ser422), was observed in meiosis II. Because meiosis II is considered as a mitosis-like phase, we investigated if our observation was also relevant to a neuronelike model. Abnormal Tau phosphorylation was detected in mitotic human neuroblastoma SY5Y cells overexpressing Tau. Regarding AT100-immunoreactivity and phosphoSer422, we suggest that phosphatase 2A inhibition and a phosphorylation combination of mitotic kinases may lead to this Alzheimer-type phosphorylation. Our results not only demonstrate the involvement of mitotic kinases in Alzheimertype Tau phosphorylation but also indicate that Xenopus oocyte could be a useful model to identify the kinases involved in this process. Keywords: Alzheimer's disease, microtubule-associated Tau proteins, mitosis, oocyte maturation, phosphorylation. The mechanisms leading to neurodegenerative disorders referred to as tauopathies, such as Alzheimer's disease (AD) are still unknown but recent evidences had shown that neurones affected in these diseases and undergoing neurofibrillary degeneration may re-express some cell cycle genes notably implicated in the G 2 /M transition (Vincent et al. 1998;Husseman et al. 2000).Neurofibrillary degeneration is one of the neuropathological hallmarks of AD. It results from the aggregation of abnormally phosphorylated Tau proteins into paired helical filaments (PHFs). Tau proteins are mainly found in neurones. They play important roles in the polymerization and stability of microtubules (MTs). Moreover, phosphorylation is a key post-translational modification involved in their regulation. At least 30 phosphorylation sites have been described in Tau proteins, most of which occur on Ser/Pro and Thr/Pro motifs.Despite the fact that many phosphorylation sites are common between Tau aggregated into filaments in AD and normal Tau from biopsy-derived material, some differences exist and support the idea of an abnormal phosphorylation of Tau proteins in AD (for review see Buée et al. 2000). This latter is also a common feature among tauopathies. Despite the lack of evidence, a possible link may exist between abnormal Tau