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RETRACTED ARTICLE: Amyloid plaques, neurofibrillary tangles and neuronal loss in brains of transgenic mice overexpressing a C-terminal fragment of human amyloid precursor protein

Nature volume 354, pages 476–478 (1991)Cite this article

This article was retracted on 19 March 1992

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Abstract

ALZHEIMER'S disease (AD) affects more than 30% of people over 80 years of age1,2. The aetiology and pathogenesis of this progressive dementia is poorly understood, but symptomatic disease is associated histopathologically with amyloid plaques, neurofibrillary tangles and neuronal loss primarily in the temporal lobe and neocortex of the brain. The core of the extracellular plaque is a derivative of the amyloid precursor protein (APP)3, referred to as β/A4 (refs 4–6), and contains the amino-acid residues 29–42 that are normally embedded in the membrane-spanning region of the precursor3. The cellular source of APP and the relationship of its deposition to the neuropathology of AD is unknown. To investigate the relationship between APP over-expression and amyloidogenesis, we have developed a vector to drive expression specifically in neurons of a C-terminal fragment of APP that contains the β/A4 region, and have used a transgenic mouse system7,8 to insert and express this construct. We report here that overexpression of this APP transgene in neurons is sufficient to produce extracellular dense-core amyloid plaques, neurofibrillary tangles and neuronal degeneration similar to that in the AD brain.

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Author information

Author notes

  1. Jon W. Gordon: To whom correspondence should be addressed

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Geriatrics and Adult Development, Mt Sinai Medical Center, 2056 Annenberg, New York, New York, 10029, USA

    Shigeki Kawabata & Jon W. Gordon

  2. Department of Obs/Gyn Reproductive Science, Mt Sinai Medical Center, 2056 Annenberg, New York, New York, 10029, USA

    Jon W. Gordon

  3. Yamanouchi Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd, Tokyo, 103, Japan

    Shigeki Kawabata

  4. Gerontology Research Center, National Institute on Aging, National Institutes of Health, Baltimore, Maryland, 21224, USA

    Gerald A. Higgins

Authors
  1. Shigeki Kawabata
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  2. Gerald A. Higgins
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  3. Jon W. Gordon
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Additional information

This article has been retracted. Please see the retraction notice for more detail: https://doi.org/10.1038/356265a0

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Kawabata, S., Higgins, G. & Gordon, J. RETRACTED ARTICLE: Amyloid plaques, neurofibrillary tangles and neuronal loss in brains of transgenic mice overexpressing a C-terminal fragment of human amyloid precursor protein. Nature 354, 476–478 (1991). https://doi.org/10.1038/354476a0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/354476a0

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