Biologists Create Strain of Mice That Models Characteristic of Alzheimer’s

Molecular biologists have created a strain of mice that models one of the key features of Alzheimer’s disease, the accumulation of “tangles” containing a protein called tau. The tangles, along with another deposit called plaque, are one of the key features of the disease, which affects as many as 4 million Americans.

A team from the University of Pennsylvania reports in the November issue of Neuron that it added an extra copy of the tau gene to mice. As the number of tangles grew with aging, the animals developed evidence of nerve cell degeneration and impaired movement.

--Compiled by Times medical writer Thomas H. Maugh II