Research Models

TgCRND8

Synonyms: APP(swe/ind) CRND8

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Species: Mouse
Genes: APP
Mutations: APP K670_M671delinsNL (Swedish), APP V717F (Indiana)
Modification: APP: Transgenic
Disease Relevance: Alzheimer's Disease
Strain Name: N/A
Genetic Background: Hybrid C3H/He-C57BL/6
Availability: Available through the Tanz Centre for Research in Neurodegenerative Diseases, University of Toronto

Summary

These transgenic mice overexpress mutant human APP at levels approximately 5-fold higher than endogenous murine APP. As the mouse ages, levels of "human" Aβ40 and Aβ42 increase, with Aβ42 being the more prevalent species (Chishti et al., 2001). These mice develop early plaque formation with thioflavin S-positive amyloid deposits observed at three months and dense-cored plaques with neuritic pathology by five months, becoming more extensive with advanced age. Activated microglia appear concurrently with plaques and GFAP-positive astrocytes follow later, starting about 13-14 weeks (Dudal et al., 2004). Dystrophic neurites are also observed (Dudal et al., 2004; Woodhouse et al., 2009). There is a decrease in the number of cholinergic neurons in the nucleus basalis magnocellularis as measured by ChAT immunoreactivity (Bellucci et al., 2006) and loss of glutamic acid decarboxylase (GAD)-immunoreactive GABAergic neurons (Krantic et al., 2012).

Behaviorally, these mice show a variety of impairments, including early impairment in acquisition and learning reversal in the reference memory version of the Morris water maze, by three months of age (Chishti et al., 2001). Age-associated cognitive deficits are observed in the step-down inhibitory avoidance test (deficits at seven months, but not at two months). No differences from wild-type mice were observed in motility, exploratory activity, or neuromuscular function at seven months as evaluated by the rotarod, hole board, and grip strength tests (Bellucci et al., 2006). In addition, susceptibility to seizure (Del Vecchio et al., 2004) and LTP-related changes (Jolas et al., 2002; Kimura et al., 2012) have been reported.

Survival rates depend on the genetic background. Survival on the (C57) × (C3H/C57) genetic background was the highest, with 50 percent of mice surviving until postnatal day 365 (the upper limit in the analysis. Mice on the (C3H/C57/129SvEv/Tac) × (129SvEv/Tac) and (FVB)×(C3H/C57) had increased mortality with 25 percent and 17 percent respectively reaching 365 days (Chishti et al., 2001).

Aβ42 immunization reduced deposition of cerebral fibrillar Aβ and improved cognitive dysfunction (Janus et al., 2000).

Modification Details

Transgene contains human APP695 with the Swedish mutation (KM670/671NL) and Indiana mutation (V717F) under the control of the hamster prion (PrP) gene promoter. The expression cassette includes about 90 nucleotides of the APP 5'-untranslated region adjacent to the start codon and 269 nucleotides of the 3′-untranslated region.

Availability

Available through the Tanz Centre for Research in Neurodegenerative Diseases, University of Toronto (crnd.info@utoronto.ca).

Phenotype Characterization

When visualized, these models will distributed over a 18 month timeline demarcated at the following intervals: 1mo, 3mo, 6mo, 9mo, 12mo, 15mo, 18mo+.

Absent

  • Tangles

No Data

Plaques

Amyloid deposition progresses with age. Thioflavin S-positive amyloid deposits at 3 months; dense cored plaques and neuritic pathology by 5 months. Plaques appear first in the subiculum, amygdala and frontal cortex, spread to the dentate gyrus, the olfactory bulb, and later thalamus, cerebral vasculature, and striatum, followed by the cerebellum and brain stem (Chishti et al., 2001).

Tangles

Neurofibrillary tangles are absent (Chishti et al., 2001). Tau is hyperphosphorylated, nitrosylated and aggregated at 7-12 months especially in the neocortex, dentate gyrus, and the CA1 and CA3 areas of the hippocampus (Bellucci et al., 2007).

Neuronal Loss

Variable cell loss by region. No difference in overall cell count, but fewer hippocampal neurons at 6 months (Brautigam et al., 2012).

Gliosis

Microglia activation appears simultaneously with Aβ deposition, with only rare activated microglia at 9-10 weeks, but by 13-14 weeks microglia cluster around Aβ deposits in the cerebral cortex and hippocampus; numerous by 20 weeks. Robust astrogliosis slightly later with clusters of GFAP+ astrocytes emerging around plaques at 13-14 weeks (Dudal et al., 2004).

Synaptic Loss

Reduced synaptophysin immunoreactivity in the vicinity of plaques at 6 months (Adalbert et al., 2009).

Changes in LTP/LTD

In hippocampal slices from 6- to 12-month-old mice basal excitatory synaptic transmission (as assessed by I/O relationships) and LTP at CA1 are reduced in TgCRND8 mice compared with wild-type mice (Kimura et al., 2012).

Cognitive Impairment

Early impairment in acquisition and learning reversal in the reference memory version of the Morris water maze, present by 3 months (Chishti et al., 2001).

Last Updated: 25 Nov 2019

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References

Paper Citations

  1. Chishti MA, Yang DS, Janus C, Phinney AL, Horne P, Pearson J, Strome R, Zuker N, Loukides J, French J, Turner S, Lozza G, Grilli M, Kunicki S, Morissette C, Paquette J, Gervais F, Bergeron C, Fraser PE, Carlson GA, George-Hyslop PS, Westaway D. Early-onset amyloid deposition and cognitive deficits in transgenic mice expressing a double mutant form of amyloid precursor protein 695. J Biol Chem. 2001 Jun 15;276(24):21562-70. PubMed.
  2. Dudal S, Krzywkowski P, Paquette J, Morissette C, Lacombe D, Tremblay P, Gervais F. Inflammation occurs early during the Abeta deposition process in TgCRND8 mice. Neurobiol Aging. 2004 Aug;25(7):861-71. PubMed.
  3. Woodhouse A, Vickers JC, Adlard PA, Dickson TC. Dystrophic neurites in TgCRND8 and Tg2576 mice mimic human pathological brain aging. Neurobiol Aging. 2009 Jun;30(6):864-74. Epub 2007 Oct 22 PubMed.
  4. Bellucci A, Luccarini I, Scali C, Prosperi C, Giovannini MG, Pepeu G, Casamenti F. Cholinergic dysfunction, neuronal damage and axonal loss in TgCRND8 mice. Neurobiol Dis. 2006 Aug;23(2):260-72. PubMed.
  5. Krantic S, Isorce N, Mechawar N, Davoli MA, Vignault E, Albuquerque M, Chabot JG, Moyse E, Chauvin JP, Aubert I, McLaurin J, Quirion R. Hippocampal GABAergic Neurons are Susceptible to Amyloid-β Toxicity in vitro and are Decreased in Number in the Alzheimer's Disease TgCRND8 Mouse Model. J Alzheimers Dis. 2012 Jan 1;29(2):293-308. PubMed.
  6. Del Vecchio RA, Gold LH, Novick SJ, Wong G, Hyde LA. Increased seizure threshold and severity in young transgenic CRND8 mice. Neurosci Lett. 2004 Sep 2;367(2):164-7. PubMed.
  7. Jolas T, Zhang XS, Zhang Q, Wong G, Del Vecchio R, Gold L, Priestley T. Long-term potentiation is increased in the CA1 area of the hippocampus of APP(swe/ind) CRND8 mice. Neurobiol Dis. 2002 Dec;11(3):394-409. PubMed.
  8. Kimura R, Mactavish D, Yang J, Westaway D, Jhamandas JH. Beta amyloid-induced depression of hippocampal long-term potentiation is mediated through the amylin receptor. J Neurosci. 2012 Nov 28;32(48):17401-6. PubMed.
  9. Janus C, Pearson J, McLaurin J, Mathews PM, Jiang Y, Schmidt SD, Chishti MA, Horne P, Heslin D, French J, Mount HT, Nixon RA, Mercken M, Bergeron C, Fraser PE, St George-Hyslop P, Westaway D. A beta peptide immunization reduces behavioural impairment and plaques in a model of Alzheimer's disease. Nature. 2000 Dec 21-28;408(6815):979-82. PubMed.

External Citations

  1. Tanz Centre for Research in Neurodegenerative Diseases, University of Toronto

Further Reading

Papers

  1. Van Vickle GD, Esh CL, Kalback WM, Patton RL, Luehrs DC, Kokjohn TA, Fifield FG, Fraser PE, Westaway D, McLaurin J, Lopez J, Brune D, Newel AJ, Poston M, Beach TG, Roher AE. TgCRND8 amyloid precursor protein transgenic mice exhibit an altered gamma-secretase processing and an aggressive, additive amyloid pathology subject to immunotherapeutic modulation. Biochemistry. 2007 Sep 11;46(36):10317-27. PubMed.
  2. Wykes R, Kalmbach A, Eliava M, Waters J. Changes in the physiology of CA1 hippocampal pyramidal neurons in preplaque CRND8 mice. Neurobiol Aging. 2011 Jun 13; PubMed.
  3. Hyde LA, Kazdoba TM, Grilli M, Lozza G, Brusa R, Brussa R, Zhang Q, Wong GT, McCool MF, Zhang L, Parker EM, Higgins GA. Age-progressing cognitive impairments and neuropathology in transgenic CRND8 mice. Behav Brain Res. 2005 May 28;160(2):344-55. PubMed.
  4. Ma K, McLaurin J. α-Melanocyte stimulating hormone prevents GABAergic neuronal loss and improves cognitive function in Alzheimer's disease. J Neurosci. 2014 May 14;34(20):6736-45. PubMed.
  5. Durk MR, Han K, Chow EC, Ahrens R, Henderson JT, Fraser PE, Pang KS. 1α,25-Dihydroxyvitamin D3 reduces cerebral amyloid-β accumulation and improves cognition in mouse models of Alzheimer's disease. J Neurosci. 2014 May 21;34(21):7091-101. PubMed.