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MINI REVIEW article

Front. Aging Neurosci.

Sec. Alzheimer's Disease and Related Dementias

Volume 17 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fnagi.2025.1652754

Exploring efficient and effective mammalian models for Alzheimer's disease

Provisionally accepted
  • Obihiro University of Agriculture and Veterinary Medicine, Obihiro, Japan

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

The aim of this study was to explore and discuss efficient and effective mammalian models for Alzheimer's disease (AD). In this study, efficient AD models are characterized by a small body size, a short lifespan, and rapid development of the main pathology including amyloid plaque formation. Effective AD models are expected to exhibit not only the main pathology, but also co-pathology associated with other neurodegenerative diseases (e.g., Lewy body dementia), systemic disturbances such as disrupted central-peripheral homeostasis, and sleep-circadian failures. This reflects recent findings indicating that AD is far more multifactorial than previously assumed. Although further investigation is required, nonhuman primates, particularly common marmosets (Callithrix jacchus), and dogs (Canis lupus familiaris) are candidates of promising and effective AD models. Tree shrews (Tupaia belangeri), guinea pigs (Cavia porcellus) and evolutionary related species including degus (Octodon degus) constitute an alternative group of AD models that remain underexplored but potentially efficient and effective. These mammalian models, together with hypothesis-driven mouse models and advances in data science technologies including omics and imaging analyses, may lead to breakthroughs in AD research, resulting in the development of effective prevention and treatment for AD.

Keywords: blood brain barrier, Cerebral Amyloid Angiopathy, marmoset, dog, tree shrew, rodent

Received: 24 Jun 2025; Accepted: 31 Jul 2025.

Copyright: © 2025 Kayano. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

* Correspondence: Mitsunori Kayano, Obihiro University of Agriculture and Veterinary Medicine, Obihiro, Japan

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