Animal Models and Translational Medicine
Animal models for Alzheimer’s disease it is important to think about the human phenotype and what is being modeled in terms of the animal phenotype. The moderator, Bradley Hyman, professor of neurology at Harvard Medical School, said that animal models of Alzheimer’s disease, based on the genetics of the disease and the closely related front temporal dementia, replicate at least some of the pathology. Researchers have been successful at modeling very specific aspects of Alzheimer’s disease in the mouse (e.g., plaques, tangles).
Although these are incomplete models of the human disease, they have been well received in the field as potentially relevant models for use in drug discovery.
- Protein-protein interactions
- Primate models
- Pharmacological and lesion models
- Transgenic models
- Genetics of translational models
- Ethical issues with animal models