title: Age-related brain pathology in Octodon degu: blood vessel, white matter and Alzheimer-like pathology.
abstract: Recently it has been shown that over 3-year-old wild-type South American rodents, Octodon degus, the "common degu" or degu, of their own accord develop Alzheimer's disease neuropathological hallmarks: amyloid-β-peptide depositions and accumulation of tau-protein. Here we analyzed brains of 1-, 3- and 6-year-old degu's, bred in standard animal facilities. Significant amounts of Aβ and tau deposits are present in the hippocampal formation of 6-year-old O. degus, primarily in the white matter, but these hippocampal Aβ and tau deposits are not present in younger ones. In contrast, significant Aβ deposits in blood vessel walls are already found in 3-year-old animals. The tau deposits in the hippocampal formation coincide with a significant decrease in staining for myelin in the same areas, indicating hippocampal disconnection and, likely, dysfunction. Our findings indicate that (1) cerebral amyloid angiopathy precedes brain parenchyma pathology in aged degu's and (2) the onset of disease seems to be delayed in the laboratory vs. wild-type degu's.
authors.affiliation: Department of Cell Biology, Center for Glial Biology, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL 35294, USA. vangroen@uab.edu
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: van Groen
authors.forename: Inga
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Kadish
authors.forename: Natalija
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Popović
authors.forename: Miroljub
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Popović
authors.forename: María
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Caballero-Bleda
authors.forename: Beatriz
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Baño-Otálora
authors.forename: Pablo
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Vivanco
authors.forename: María Ángeles
authors.initials: MÁ
authors.lastname: Rol
authors.forename: Juan Antonio
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Madrid
mesh_terms: D000375:Aging / Q000473:pathology; D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000473:pathology* / Q000503:physiopathology; D000818:Animals; D001921:Brain / Q000098:blood supply* / Q000473:pathology* / Q000503:physiopathology; D016657:Cerebral Amyloid Angiopathy / Q000473:pathology* / Q000503:physiopathology; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D018450:Disease Progression; D005260:Female; D009413:Nerve Fibers, Myelinated / Q000473:pathology*; D046329:Octodon