title: Transgenic mouse models for APP processing and Alzheimer's disease: early and late defects.
abstract: Transgenic mice with neuronal expression of human AD-mutant APP[V7171] in their brain recapitulate robustly the amyloid pathology as seen in Alzheimer's disease (AD) patients. The AD related pathological phenotype consisting of amyloid plaques and vascular amyloid pathology, develop progressively and relative late in ageing APP transgenic mice, between 10 and 15 months of age. In contrast to the late - and clinically irrelevant - amyloid plaque-pathology, the early cognitive defects and behavioural features are clinically more interesting. This review discusses the generation and in depth phenotypic characterization of both aspects of the APP[V7171] transgenic mice. Attention is focussed on the relation of biochemical data of the different APP fragments and amyloid peptides to the formation of the typical early defects and the late parenchymal and vascular amyloid depositions. The APP[V7171] transgenic mice are a perfect model to characterize and investigate early biochemical and cognitive aspects and a potential resource to define pathological interactions of different factors known to be involved in AD. Finally, any therapeutic intervention can be directly tested and explored in these transgenic mice as excellent pre-clinical models.
authors.affiliation: Experimental Genetics Group, Department of Human Genetics, K U Leuven, B-3000 Leuven, Belgium.
authors.forename: Tom
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: van Dooren
authors.forename: Ilse
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Dewachter
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Borghgraef
authors.forename: Fred
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: van Leuven
mesh_terms: D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000235:genetics* / Q000473:pathology*; D016229:Amyloid beta-Peptides / Q000235:genetics*; D000818:Animals; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D006801:Humans; D051379:Mice; D008822:Mice, Transgenic; D016874:Neurofibrillary Tangles / Q000473:pathology; D058225:Plaque, Amyloid / Q000473:pathology
chemical_list: D016229:Amyloid beta-Peptides