Suppression of amyloid deposition leads to long-term reductions in Alzheimer's pathologies in Tg2576 mice.

In amyloid precursor protein (APP) models of amyloid deposition, the amount of amyloid deposits increase with mouse age. At a first approximation, the extent of amyloid accumulation may either reflect small excesses of production over clearance that accumulate over time or, alternatively, indicate a steady-state equilibrium at that age, reflecting the instantaneous excess of production over clearance, which increases as the organism ages. To discriminate between these options, we reversibly suppressed amyloid deposition in Tg2576 mice with the anti-Abeta antibody 2H6, starting at 8 months, just before the first histological deposits can be discerned. Six months later, we stopped the suppression and monitored the progression of amyloid accumulation in control APP mice and suppressed APP mice over the next 3 months. The accumulation hypothesis would predict that the rate of amyloid from 14 to 17 months would be similar in the suppressed and control mice, while the equilibrium hypothesis would predict that the increase would be faster in the suppressed group, possibly catching up completely with the control mice. The results strongly support the accumulation hypothesis, with no evidence of the suppressed mice catching up with the control mice as predicted by equilibrium models. If anything, there was a slower rate of increase in the suppressed APP mice than the control mice, suggesting that a slow seeding mechanism likely precedes a rapid fibrillogenesis in determining the extent of amyloid deposition.