MODELING THE AMYLOID-BETA CASCADE HYPOTHESIS IN THE TRANSGENIC TGF344-AD RAT MODEL USING A SYSTEM OF ORDINARY DIFFERENTIAL EQUATIONS

Abstract

Alzheimer’s disease is a devastating neurodegenerative disease whose etiology is poorly understood and for which current treatments provide modest control of symptoms. There are many different hypotheses which seek to explain the cause of this disease, one of which is the Amyloid-beta cascade hypothesis. To better investigate the causes and progression of the disease, animal models have been developed, notably the transgenic TgF344-AD rat. We combine observations on the accumulation of amyloid-beta, changes in neuronal density, and a decline in cognitive performance in rats with a simple compartmental ordinary differential equation model based on the Amyloid-beta cascade hypothesis.