AMERICAN researchers have genetically engineered a mouse that develops the symptoms of Alzheimer鈥檚 disease. This means that Alzheimer鈥檚 therapies can now first be tested in animals.
The mouse, made by a team led by Ivan Lieberburg of Athena Neurosciences in San Francisco, carries a human gene that codes for an altered form of amyloid precursor protein. APP is believed to cause the distinctive plaques that form in the brains of people with Alzheimer鈥檚. The mouse produces three subtly different forms of APP, just like humans.
In this week鈥檚 Nature the team describes how the mice develop classic plaques and lose synapses as they age. The team is now testing the animals to see if they lose their ability to remember their way through simple mazes. 鈥淚 should be shocked if there was not some behavioural abnormality in these animals,鈥� says Lieberburg.
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But the conditions under which the mice will be made available to other researchers are unclear. Lieberburg鈥檚 work was largely paid for by the American drugs company Eli Lilly. The company will want to ensure that it will profit from the breakthrough.