Specialists in neuro-degeneration provide an overview of animal models that are being developed and used to study complex disease dynamics, including pathology-related mechanisms, with the ultimate goal of discovering neuro-protective therapeutics. They look in turn at animal models of Alzheimer's' disease, using animal models to understand mechanisms of disease, and Alzheimer's disease therapies using animal models. Among specific topics discussed are estimating the working memory in macaques for studying drugs to treat cognitive disorders, the cholesterol-fed rabbit as a model for Alzheimer's disease, apparent behavioral benefits of tau overexpression in P301L tau transgenic mice, hippocampal alterations in rats submitted to a streptozotocin-induced dementia model, and cholino-mimetic actions of memantine on learning and hippocampal plasticity. The series will assemble and build on work recently published in the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease, each volume devoted to a particular topic. Annotation ©2012 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com) Read Less