1.
Trends Genet
; 17(5): 254-61, 2001 May.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-11335035
ABSTRACT
Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disorder that is claiming an increasing number of victims as the world population ages. The identification of gene mutations and polymorphisms that either cause AD or significantly increase the risk for developing it enabled the creation of a whole generation of realistic rodent models of the disease. Animals expressing mutated human amyloid precursor protein and presenilin 1 show dramatic parallels to AD, although none of the models appear to capture the full range of pathologies that characterize the human disease. Increased refinement of these models will enhance the already tantalizing possibility of treatment.