CEREBROVASCULAR AMYLOIDOSIS IN SQUIRREL-MONKEYS AND RHESUS-MONKEYS - APOLIPOPROTEIN-E GENOTYPE

Some neuropathological changes characteristic of aging and Alzheimer's disease (AD) in humans are present also in senescent non-human primat es. The human apoE4 allele is associated with an increased risk of dev eloping late-onset familial and sporadic AD. We found that rhesus monk eys and three subspecies of squirrel monkeys are homozygous for apoE p henotype with arginine at positions 112 and 158 as in human apoE4. How ever, in both species threonine replaces arginine at position 61 of hu man apoE. It was previously shown that arginine 61 was critical in det ermining apoE4 lipoprotein distribution in humans.