title: Behavioral characterization of the Tg2576 transgenic model of Alzheimer's disease through 19 months.
abstract: Behavioral characterization of Alzheimer's disease (AD) transgenic models over multiple time points during aging has been largely inadequate, usually being limited to one or two cognitive-based tasks. In this context, the present study utilized a comprehensive 6-week behavioral battery to characterize sensorimotor and cognitive performance of Tg2576 AD transgenic (Tg+) mice and nontransgenic (Tg-) controls aged 3, 9, 14, and 19 months. Compared collectively to Tg- mice over all four time points, Tg+ mice were impaired in Y-maze spontaneous alternation, visible platform recognition, and several sensorimotor tasks; Tg+ mice also showed an overall increase in activity measures. The deficits in visible platform became evident by 9 months of age, while those in sensorimotor tasks became clearly manifest by 14 months. Although the behavioral impairments exhibited by Tg+ mice were usually progressive through 19 months, Tg- animals also showed similar progressive decline in the same behavioral measures; thus, no task revealed a progressive behavioral decline exclusive to Tg+ mice. Moreover, although the 6-week behavioral battery included six cognitively based tasks (i.e., Y-maze, visible platform, Morris water maze, circular platform, passive avoidance, and active avoidance), behavioral analysis through 19 months revealed Tg+ mice to be impaired in only the Y-maze and visible platform tasks. Consequently, Tg2576 mice do not exhibit widespread, profound cognitive impairment, even into old age. This may reflect their predominant C57BL/6 background and an apparent inability of the mutant transgene to profoundly alter performance therein.
authors.affiliation: Memory and Aging Research Laboratory, Department of Biology, University of South Florida, Tampa, FL 33620, USA.
authors.forename: David L
authors.initials: DL
authors.lastname: King
authors.forename: Gary W
authors.initials: GW
authors.lastname: Arendash
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000235:genetics / Q000401:mortality / Q000503:physiopathology*; D016229:Amyloid beta-Peptides / Q000235:genetics*; D000818:Animals; D001362:Avoidance Learning / Q000502:physiology; D001522:Behavior, Animal / Q000502:physiology*; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D005260:Female; D005824:Genetics, Behavioral; D005838:Genotype; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D018782:Maze Learning / Q000502:physiology; D051379:Mice; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D008822:Mice, Transgenic; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000502:physiology; D016019:Survival Analysis; D015996:Survival Rate
chemical_list: D016229:Amyloid beta-Peptides