Behavioural and Histopathological Characterisation of APP-KI Alzheimer Mice Models (360G-Wellcome-211803_Z_18_Z)

The project would involve behavioural and histopathological studies of a mouse model of Alzheimer's Disease. The transgenic mouse, Amyloid Precursor Protein Knock-In (APP-KI) expresses human-like amyloid plaques in the absence of other APP fragments and, hence, represents the best APP model currently available. They will be injected with tau, in order to mimic the combination of pathological changes that occur in human Alzheimer's-disease-affected brains. The main goals of the project involve establishing the exact time-course over which the Alzheimer's-like phenotype develops, correlating the number of human-like amyloid plaques with the extent of the memory deficit in the APP-KI mice with and without tau, and finally establishing whether there is any underlying neuronal cell death in the tau-injected mice. The first four weeks of the project would involve a battery of behavioural tests to include Open Field activity, Novel Object Recognition, Object Location and spatial T-maze testing in order to identify behavioural changes/memory deficits in the APP-KI and the APP-KI + tau animals when compared to wild type litter-mates. Afterwards the animals would be sacrificed, their brains removed and sectioned. The brain sections would be stained and histopathological changes (e.g. amyloid plaque volume and tau filaments) correlated with behavioural changes.