New Lab Mouse May Help Researchers Develop Effective Alzheimer's Treatment

A new type of laboratory mouse may allow researchers to develop an effective treatment for Alzheimer's disease in a model closely matching the way the disease develops in the human brain, according to a study reported in the July 31 issue of Neuron.

University of California at Irvine researchers genetically engineered the mouse, which allows both the tangles from the protein tau and the plaque from the protein beta-amyloid to be studied together for the first time in a single living organism.

Study author Frank LaFerla, professor of neurobiology and behavior, said the mouse would allow researchers to understand the relationship between the two and to dissect the processes by which they may be connected.

"This may eventually lead to a single class of drugs for treating both the inherited and sporadic forms of the disease," LaFerla said. "We now have the ability to study a wider spectrum of Alzheimer's disease than previously possible."

With the new mouse, UCI researchers have already traced the sequence of molecular events leading to the disease. They found that beta-amyloid plaques appeared first in the mouse brain, while tau-laden tangles appeared later. This suggests that beta-amyloid may be the initiating component of both sporadic and familial Alzheimer's disease.

The UCI researchers also found that beta-amyloid can accumulate in neural cells before plaques or tangles form. This appears to diminish the function of brain synapses, which may lead to memory impairments, the signature feature of Alzheimer's disease, they noted.

Other sources: University of California at Irvine