Rodents May Help Find Cure for Alzheimer’s Disease

A Chilean rodent species may provide a natural model for Alzheimer’s disease, an international research team, including scientists from the Centre for Healthy Brain Ageing (CHeBA) at UNSW, has found.
The world-first study, published in the journal Brain Pathology, shows that pathological changes observed in Octodon degus closely correlate with the progression of Alzheimer’s disease in humans. The Octoden degus live longer than more common rat species (typically seven years or more) and the amyloid-beta protein found in their brains more closely resembles that of humans (amyloid-beta protein is the main component of the brain plaques found in Alzheimer’s patients).
 CHeBA’s Dr Nady Braidy says research into neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease, has been limited by the reliability of available disease models. “None of the current models mimic the full range of changes occurring during Alzheimer’s disease. In fact, several models rely on introducing foreign genes into organisms, so we don’t know how reliable they are and the success rate of therapeutic treatments using these models has been poor.”
According to the study’s lead author, Dr Juvenal Ríos of the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile, a natural model could provide a “powerful tool” for better understanding Alzheimer’s disease and developing future treatments and interventions.
Using the rodent species, researchers examined a wide range of processes which are known to be linked to the onset and progression of Alzheimer’s disease. These included metabolic stress, death of neurons, oxidative stress and inflammatory processes.
Scientia Professor Perminder Sachdev, Co-Director of CHeBA UNSW and co-author of the paper, says: “Naturalistic models of later onset Alzheimer’s disease are urgently needed and the degu looks promising in this regard. Since this animal does not live in Australia, and importation for research may prove to be difficult, our collaboration with the Chilean researchers is of great scientific value”.
The study provides a strong case for considering the use of the Chilean rodent species for future studies of Alzheimer’s disease. The authors caution, however, that further research is needed to confirm these findings.
This study was supported by the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile, the Basal Centre for Excellence in Science and Technology, the Chilean National Commission for Scientific and Technological Research (CONICYT), the Chilean Society of Chemistry and Mining (SQM), Alzheimer’s Australia and the NHMRC.