Alzheimer's disease: Transgenic mouse models and drug assessment

Alzheimer's disease (AD), characterized by neuritic plaques and neurofibril lary tangles of the brain, is experienced by more and more elderly people i n a form of senile dementia. Four genes are closely linked with AD and are located on chromosomes 21, 19, 14 and 1. Transgenic technology enables the development of animal models for research into this human disease. Recently reported transgenic AD mouse models, which express AD-related mutant human genes, develop some significant aspects of AD-like pathology. The specific role of these mice in representing different targets, the consequent patho logy of AD and the availability of this increasingly popular tool for inves tigating new therapeutic strategies for AD are reviewed. (C) 2000 Academic Press.