UCI Develops Humanized Mice to Study Human Brain Cells' Role in Alzheimer's Disease

A study by University of California, Irvine (UCI) scientists published in Neuron details a technique to induce the growth of human brain immune cells in mice, reports the Daily Pilot . "The functions of our cells are influenced by which genes are turned on or off," said UCI Professor Mathew Blurton-Jones. "Recent research has identified over 40 different genes with links to Alzheimer's, and the majority of these are switched on in microglia. However, so far we've only been able to study human microglia at the end stage of Alzheimer's in post-mortem tissues or in petri dishes." The team generated a "chimeric" mouse model, using induced pluripotent stem cells donated by human adults and engineered to transform into young microglia, implanting them into young genetically modified rodents. "In addition to yielding vital information about Alzheimer's, this new chimeric rodent model can show us the role of these important immune cells in brain development and a wide range of neurological disorders," said UCI's Morgan Cogburn.