Genes, models and Alzheimer's disease

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disorder that is claiming a n increasing number of victims as the world population ages. The identifica tion of gene mutations and polymorphisms that either cause AD or significan tly increase the risk for developing it enabled the creation of a whole gen eration of realistic rodent models of the disease. Animals expressing mutat ed human amyloid precursor protein and presenilin 1 show dramatic parallels to AD, although none of the models appear to capture the full range of pat hologies that characterize the human disease. Increased refinement of these models will enhance the already tantalizing possibility of treatment.