Research Models

Commonly Used Mouse Models

Name Genes Mutations Modification Disease Neuropathology Behavior/Cognition Visualization Promoter/Regulatory Elements Genetic Background Strain Name Other Phenotypes Availability Primary Paper
APP APP E693del (Osaka) APP: Transgenic Alzheimer's Disease Age-dependent accumulation of Aβ oligomers within hippocampal and cortical neurons, but negligible deposits of extracellular amyloid. Abnormal tau phosphorylation, but no overt tangle pathology. Synaptic loss and gliosis in hippocampus and cerebral cortex. Late neuronal loss in the CA3 region of the hippocampus. Memory impairment by eight months as measured by the Morris water maze. Specifically, reduced spatial reference memory in the Morris water maze compared to mice expressing comparable levels of wild-type human APP. Yes B6C3F1, back-crossed to C57Bl/6 Available from TransGenic Inc. Tomiyama et al., 2010
MAPT MAPT P301S MAPT: Transgenic Alzheimer's Disease, Frontotemporal Dementia, Other Tauopathy Age-dependent hyperphosphorylation of tau and conformational changes leading to neurofibrillary tanglelike pathology in the cerebral cortex, hippocampus, brain stem, and spinal cord. Neurodegeneration, especially in the spinal cord, accompanied by astrocytosis. Early motor impairment, including abnormal clasping and rotarod deficit at 4 months, with nearly complete deficit at 5 months. Deficits progress to severe paraparesis. Disinhibition and hyperactivity at 2 to 3 months. Yes CBAxC57BL/6 Thy1-hTau.P301S (CBA.C57BL/6) Muscle weakness, tremor. Frequent eye inflammation. Available for academic use from Michel Goedert and for commercial use from LifeArc. The CRO reMYND offers research services with this line. Allen et al., 2002
MAPT MAPT P301L MAPT: Transgenic Frontotemporal Dementia, Progressive Supranuclear Palsy, Alzheimer's Disease Age and gene-dose dependent development of neurofibrillary tangles as early as 4.5 months in homozygotes and 6.5 months in heterozyotes. Tangles and Pick-body-like inclusions in the amygdala, hypothalamus, pons, medulla, and spinal cord among other areas. Neuronal loss, especially in the spinal cord. By 10 months, 90% developed motor and behavioral disturbances including limb weakness, hunched posture, decrease in grooming and vocalization. Yes C57BL/6, DBA/2, SW Mixed Background Tg(Prnp-MAPT*P301L)JNPL3Hlmc Eye irritiation, possibily due to carrying the Pde6brd1 retinal degeneration mutation carries Pde6brd1 mutation Taconic: Stock#2508 (homozygote)#1638 (heterozygote and wild-type) has been discontinued. Lewis et al., 2000
MAPT MAPT P301L MAPT: Transgenic Frontotemporal Dementia, Alzheimer's Disease Propagating tau pathology starting in the entorhinal cortex and spreading to regions functionally connected to the EC (e.g., dentate gyrus). Neurodegeneration and axonal degeneration, first in EC and parasubiculum. Gliosis and synaptic loss. Subtle cognitive deficit in contextual fear conditioning, but not in the radial arm maze, at 16 months. Mild specific deficit in locomotor activity in the open field test. Yes 4510 mice are on an FVB background. Neuropsin-tTA mice are on a C57BL/6 background. No apparent change in anxiety as assessed by the open field test. Reduced Arc induction in the hippocampus after contextual fear conditioning. Subtle differences in basal synaptic transmission with enhanced axonal excitability. de Calignon et al., 2012
MAPT MAPT K280del MAPT: Transgenic Alzheimer's Disease, Frontotemporal Dementia Abundant pre-tangle pathology, but only rare mature tangles, and only at advanced ages. Tau pathology included mislocalization of tau to the somatodendritic compartment, aggregation, and hyperphosphorylation. Unknown. Yes Unknown. Available through Eva Mandelkow. Eckermann et al., 2007
MAPT MAPT P301L MAPT: Transgenic Alzheimer's Disease, Frontotemporal Dementia Pathologic hyperphosphorylation and conformational change of parenchymal tau in brain tissues starting at 7 months. Tangle-like pathology is mainly observed in the brain stem and spinal cord, and to a lesser extent in the midbrain and cerebral cortex. Age-dependent increase in total tau in CSF. Age-associated deficits in a passive avoidance task (starting at 5 months) and a novel object recognition task (starting at 9 months). At a young age (~2 months) outperforms wild-type littermates in object recognition memory. Progressive motor impairment and reduced activity, accompanied by increased clasping of hind and then forelimbs around seven months. Yes FVB/N Thy1-hTau.P301L Premature death around 8-12 months, preceded by weight loss, hyperkyphosis, reduced activity, and upper airway dysfunction. The CRO reMYND offers research services with this line.  Terwel et al., 2005
MAPT MAPT P301S MAPT: Transgenic Alzheimer's Disease, Frontotemporal Dementia Neuron loss and brain atrophy by eight to 12 months, especially in the hippocampus and spreading to the neocortex and entorhinal cortex. Neurofibrillary tangles in the neocortex, amygdala, hippocampus, brain stem, and spinal cord. Neuroinflammation with microgliosis and astrocytosis. Impairments in spatial memory and learning ability in Morris water maze. Paralysis at seven to 10 months associated with a hunched-back posture followed by feeding difficulties. About 80 percent mortality by 12 months with median survival of about nine months. Yes (C57BL/6 x C3H)F1 B6;C3-Tg(Prnp-MAPT*P301S)PS19Vle/J Clasping and limb retraction when lifted by the tail at three months, followed by limb weakness and brain atrophy. Homozygous females do not mate. The Jackson Lab: Stock# 008169; Live. Research with this model is available from QPS Austria. Yoshiyama et al., 2007
MAPT MAPT K280del MAPT: Transgenic Alzheimer's Disease, Frontotemporal Dementia Tau aggregates and tangles as early as 2-3 months after gene expression. Gallyas silver-positive neurons abundant in the entorhinal cortex and amygdala, spreading to the neocortex by 15 months. “Ballooned” neurons. Astrogliosis. Synaptic structural changes and reduced synaptic number. Hippocampal neuronal loss. Reversible learning and memory deficits in the Morris water maze and passive avoidance test. No significant motor deficit, although slight reduction in Rotarod performance. Yes C57BL/6 Missorting of tau into the somato-dendritic compartment. Calcium dysregulation at synaptic boutons. Deficits in synaptic plasticity, including LTP and LTD. Unknown Mocanu et al., 2008