[Experimental models for Alzheimer's disease research]

Current animal models for Alzheimer's research include transgenic mice that express a mutant form of human beta-amyloid precursor protein (APP). However, the mutant mice with the human APP transgene also have their own endogenous APP gene, which may interfere with APP processing to generate beta-amyloid peptide.

By genetic and immunochemical analyses, our laboratory has discovered that there are animals in the nature, the chick embryo and the dog in particular, which may be better experimental models than the transgenic mice, because they contain the same machinery as humans to process APP and they are easier to access, manipulate or explore their neurology. These species may be natural experimental models to study the cell biology of Alzheimer's APP and potential assay systems for drugs used to regulate beta-amyloid production as well as for the assay of new therapeutic strategies against so devasting disease.