Transgenic mice expressing Alzheimer amyloid precursor proteins

—Nearly a decade after the identification of the Alzheimer amyloid precursor protein (APP) gene several groups of investigators have created transgenic mice expressing APP that simulate some of the prominent behavioral and pathological features of Alzheimer’s disease Quon et al 1991, Games et al 1995, Hsiao et al 1995, Hsiao et al 1996, Moechars et al 1996, Sturchler-Pierrat et al 1997. These features, which are present to various degrees in different lines of mice, include age-related impairment in learning and memory, neuronal loss, gliosis, neuritic changes, amyloid deposition, and abnormal tau phosphorylation. No mouse model exhibiting every neuropathological feature of Alzheimer’s disease exists. Whether an exact simulation of Alzheimer neuropathology is required to understand neural dysfunction in Alzheimer’s disease is unclear. Various mouse models of Alzheimer’s disease are summarized in this article.