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. 1995 May 9;92(10):4402–4406. doi: 10.1073/pnas.92.10.4402

Early Alzheimer disease-like histopathology increases in frequency with age in mice transgenic for beta-APP751.

L S Higgins 1, J M Rodems 1, R Catalano 1, D Quon 1, B Cordell 1
PMCID: PMC41952  PMID: 7753818

Abstract

beta-Amyloid deposition and neurofibrillary tangle formation are two histopathological features of Alzheimer disease. We have previously reported that beta-amyloid immunoreactive deposits form in the brains of transgenic mice programmed for neuronal expression of the 751-amino acid isoform of human beta-amyloid precursor protein (beta-APP751) and now describe that these animals also display Alz50 intraneuronal immunoreactivity similar to that seen in early Alzheimer disease. This suggests that abnormal beta-APP expression and/or beta-amyloid deposition promotes pathogenic alterations in tau protein. The frequency of both beta-amyloid deposition and Alz50-positive neurons was twice as prevalent in brains from old (22 months) as compared to young (2-3 months) beta-APP751 transgenic mice. This increase in histopathology with age in beta-APP751 transgenic mice parallels the time-dependent progression seen in the human disease.

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