A rat with some human genes could provide a better way to test Alzheimer's drugs.
The genetically modified rat is the first rodent model to exhibit the full range of brain changes found in Alzheimer's, researchers report in The Journal of Neuroscience.
"It's a big step forward" for drug development, says Roderick Corriveau, a program director at the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, or NINDS, which helped fund the work. "The closer the model is to the human condition in representing the disease, the more likely the drug will behave and cure the way it would in humans."
In recent years, drug companies have developed several Alzheimer's drugs that seemed to work in animals, but did not help people with the disease. A lack of good animal models for Alzheimer
