Alzheimer's mice: Groping in the darkness

The recent publication of what is at least the tenth transgenic mouse model of Alzheimer's disease has rekindled the debate over which model most accurately reflects the progression and symptoms of the disease.

Several transgenic mouse models have been made by companies and academic labs, each with different advantages and disadvantages for the study of Alzheimer's disease (AD). However, trying to create a model of a disease that is not well understood even in humans in an organism with non-human physiology is difficult at best, and no model produced so far comprehensively reflects the pathological and behavioral features of AD...