New mouse model could revolutionize research in Alzheimer's disease
Sunday, April 13, 2014 - 15:30
in Biology & Nature
Alzheimer’s disease, the primary cause of dementia in the elderly, imposes a tremendous social and economic burden on modern society. Unfortunately, it has proven very difficult to develop drugs capable of ameliorating the disease. After a tremendous burst of progress in the 1990s, the pace of discoveries has slowed. Part of the difficulty is the inadequacy of current mouse models to replicate the real conditions of Alzheimer’s disease and allow an understanding of the underlying mechanisms that lead to neurodegeneration. Scientists have now reported the creation of two new mouse models of Alzheimer's disease that may potentially revolutionize research into this disease.