| abstract |
The invention provides transgenic non-human animals which exhibit both APP and tau-linked features, e.g. histological features, of AD pathology, and preferably also behavioural changes characteristic of AD. Suitably the transgenic non-human animals express a human APP comprising the Swedish mutation or the Swedish mutation in combination with one or more additional mutations, in particular the London mutation. It appears that the level at which the transgene is expressed in the transgenic animal, e.g. the level of transgene mRNA, is an important factor for obtaining AD pathology in the animal. Transgenic mice expressing said mutated human APP under control of Thy-1 promoter element have been found to develop a pathological phenotype which goes beyond that previously described by Games et al. [Nature 373, 523-527, (1995)], by combining APP and tau-linked features of the AD pathology. Moreover, the mice have been found to present behavioural changes characteristic of AD, which has also never been reported before with transgenic animals. |