Published online before print July 3, 2008

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(American Journal of Pathology. 2008;173:483-493.)
© 2008 American Society for Investigative Pathology
DOI: 10.2353/ajpath.2008.071191

Tg-SwDI Transgenic Mice Exhibit Novel Alterations in AβPP Processing, Aβ Degradation, and Resilient Amyloid Angiopathy

Gregory D. Van Vickle^*, Chera L. Esh^*, Ian D. Daugs^*, Tyler A. Kokjohn^*, Walter M. Kalback^*, R. Lyle Patton^*, Dean C. Luehrs^*, Douglas G. Walker, Lih-Fen Lue, Thomas G. Beach, Judianne Davis^¶, William E. Van Nostrand^¶, Eduardo M. Castaño^|| and Alex E. Roher^*

From The Longtine Center for Molecular Biology and Genetics,^* the Laboratory of Neuroflammation, and the H. Civin Laboratory of Neuropathology, Sun Health Research Institute, Sun City, Arizona; the Department of Microbiology, Midwestern University, Glendale, Arizona; the Department of Medicine,^¶ Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, New York; and the Fundacion Instituto Leloir,|| Buenos Aires, Argentina

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is characterized by the accumulation of extracellular insoluble amyloid, primarily derived from polymerized amyloid-β (Aβ) peptides. We characterized the chemical composition of the Aβ peptides deposited in the brain parenchyma and cerebrovascular walls of triple transgenic Tg-SwDI mice that produce a rapid and profuse Aβ accumulation. The processing of the N- and C-terminal regions of mutant AβPP differs substantially from humans because the brain parenchyma accumulates numerous, diffuse, nonfibrillar plaques, whereas the thalamic microvessels harbor overwhelming amounts of compact, fibrillar, thioflavine-S- and apolipoprotein E-positive amyloid deposits. The abundant accretion of vascular amyloid, despite low AβPP transgene expression levels, suggests that inefficient Aβ proteolysis because of conformational changes and dimerization may be key pathogenic factors in this animal model. The disruption of amyloid plaque cores by immunotherapy is accompanied by increased perivascular deposition in both humans and transgenic mice. This analogous susceptibility and response to the disruption of amyloid deposits suggests that Tg-SwDI mice provide an excellent model in which to study the functional aftermath of immunotherapeutic interventions. These mice might also reveal new avenues to promote amyloidogenic AβPP processing and fundamental insights into the faulty degradation and clearance of Aβ in AD, pivotal issues in understanding AD pathophysiology and the assessment of new therapeutic agents.