Triple-Transgenic Alzheimer's Disease Mice Exhibit Region-Specific Abnormalities in Brain Myelination Patterns Prior to Appearance of Amyloid and Tau Pathology

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a progressively debilitating brain disorder pathologically defined by extracellular amyloid plaques, intraneuronal neurofibrillary tangles, and synaptic disintegrity. AD has not been widely considered a disease of white matter, but more recent evidence suggests the existence of abnormalities in myelination patterns and myelin attrition in AD-afflicted human brains. Herein, we demonstrate that triple-transgenic AD (3xTg-AD) mice, which harbor the human amyloid precursor protein Swedish mutant transgene, presenilin knock-in mutation, and tau P301L mutant transgene, exhibit significant region-specific alterations in myelination patterns and in oligodendrocyte marker expression profiles at time points preceding the appearance of amyloid and tau pathology. These immunohistochemical signatures are coincident with age-related alterations in axonal and myelin sheath ultrastructure as visualized by comparative electron microscopic examination of 3xTg-AD and nontransgenic mouse brain tissue. Overall, these findings indicate that 3xTg-AD mice represent a viable model in which to examine mechanisms underlying AD-related myelination and neural transmission defects that occur early during presymptomatic stages of the disease process. (C) 2008 Wiley-Liss, Inc.