Behavioral and pathological changes in a transgenic mouse model of Alzheimer's disease

Abstract

Alzheimer's disease (AD), a neurodegenerative brain disorder, is the most common cause of dementia, characterized by amyloid-β plaque accumulation, intracellular tangles and neuronal loss in selective brain regions. The frontal cortex, important for executive functioning, is one of the regions affected. In this communication, it has been investigated that learning and memory function and pathological changes of APPswe/PS1ΔE9 (APP/PS1) double transgenic mouse. Ten male APP/PS1 double transgenic mice and 10 male CS7BL/GJ mice were used in this study. The learning and memory functions were studied by Morris water maze, the pathological changes in brain tissue by modified Bielschowsky and Nissl's staining and the distribution of Aâ plaques in the APP/PS1 mouse brain by immunohistochemistry using avidin-biotinylated complex staining. We found that the APP/PS1 mice provided novel insights into the regional selective vulnerability of the frontal cortex to Alzheimer's disease and therefore these mice may prove as useful animal models for understanding the pathogenesis of Alzheimer's disease in people.