Animal models of Alzheimer's disease: are they valid and useful?

Abstract

Animal models of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) have been designed to reproduce various components of the pathological, biochemical, and behavioral characteristics of AD in order to understand the consequences of the pathological and biochemical changes that occur as the disease progresses, and investigate the effectiveness of potential pharmacotherapies. An animal model is useful only if it leads to the development of an effective therapy or provides a better understanding of the biological mechanisms that underlie the symptoms of the disease. Animal models of AD have provided much information on the function of the basal forebrain system and have been used to investigate the potential effectiveness of various pharmacotherapies designed to reverse specific symptoms. The validity and usefulness of these models is discussed.