Peroxynitrites contribute to the hyperphosphorylation of tau proteins by oxidating g-protein coupled receptors and trysoine kinase receptors preventing protein kinase C and AKT from inactivating the enzyme GSK3 which is necessary to prevent the hyperphosphorylation of tau proteins.
Professor Seth Grant, an expert in the molecular mechanism of learning and memory at Edinburgh University, told BBC News Online that PKM was a particular version of an enzyme called protein kinase C (PKC) that had long been implicated in learning.