The construction of transgenic animal models of human Alzheimer's
disease, and methods of using the models to screen potential Alzhe##
disease therapeutics, are described. The models are characterized by pathologies similar to pathologies observed in Alzheimer's
disease, based on expression of all three forms of the β-
amyloid precursor
protein (APP), APP695, APP751, and APP770, as well as various point mutations based on naturally occurring mutations, such as the London and Indiana familial Alzheimer's disease (FAD) mutations at
amino acid 717, predicted mutations in the APP
gene, and truncated forms of APP that contain the Aβ region. Animal cells can be isolated from the transgenic animals or prepared using the same constructs with standard techniques such as
lipofection or
electroporation. The transgenic animals, or animal cells, are used to screen for compounds altering the
pathological course of Alzheimer's disease as measured by their effect on the amount of APP, β-
amyloid peptide, and numerous other Alzheimer's
disease markers in the animals, the
neuropathology of the animals, as well as by behavioral alterations in the animals.