The need for common perspectives in the development and use of animal models for age-related cognitive and neurodegenerative disorders.
Research toward the development and use of animals models of age-related neurodegeneration and memory loss has accelerated rapidly during the past decade. However, the degree to which various investigators have been able to integrate their findings has not kept pace. Given the apparent complexity of neurodegenerative and cognitive phenomena, it seems essential that more effective dialogue between investigators with diverse backgrounds and approaches be achieved. Such a dialogue would likely reduce certain confusion and misunderstanding that currently exist in this field. It might also be expected that the dialogue would lead to the development of a working framework for continued growth and integration of novel findings and ideas. This paper attempts to promote a dialogue by identifying and discussing certain broad issues that produce unnecessary confusion in the common pursuit of using animals to understand various aspects of complex human neurodegenerative diseases. Also, some perspectives are suggested that may facilitate discussion and comparison of different animal models, independent of the paradigms and species used.
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CORTEX Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Costa Mesa, CA 92626.
D000375:Aging / Q000502:physiology*; D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000503:physiopathology*; D000818:Animals; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000503:physiopathology*; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D006801:Humans