Chapter 18 Rodent Models of Autosomal Dominant Parkinson Disease
Jianfeng Xiao1, Satya Vemula1, Zhenyu Yue2
1
Department of Neurology, University of Tennessee Health Science Center, Memphis, TN, USA
2
Departments of Neurology and Neuroscience, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New
York, NY, USA
Abstract
Parkinson disease (PD) is a common and impactful neurodegenerative disorder that affects more
than 1% of the human population over 60 years of age. Although most human cases are sporadic,
familial cases (<10%) with autosomal dominant genetic components are not uncommon in
clinical practice. Animal models of autosomal dominant PD help in understanding the
pathogenic processes related to neuronal loss and facilitate development of novel
pharmacological approaches to therapy. Decades after the identification of causal genes and the
application of clinical genetic testing, and despite numerous established rodent models of PD, we
are still lacking a suitable model that replicates all of the motor and nonmotor features seen in
human PD. In this review, we summarize many of the published murine models of autosomal
dominant PD and discuss the current status and value of genetically engineered PD rodent
models in understanding disease mechanisms and therapeutics development.