NON-HUMAN MAMMALIAN AND NON-MAMMALIAN ANIMAL MODELS OF AGE-RELATED MEMORY IMPAIRMENT

摘要

It is intended to provide a non-human mammalian model of age-related memory impairment and a non-mammalian animal model of age-related memory impairment; and a method of screening a preventive and/or a remedy for age-related memory impairment by using these animal models of age-related memory impairment. In a fry such as a drosophila, an amn gene is mutated to impair the function of the amn gene to thereby give a non-mammalian animal model in the same state as human age-related memory impairment (AMI). A non-human animal model such as a mutant mouse is constructed by mutating target genes being highly homologous with the fry amn gene such as pituitary adenyl cyclase-activating polypeptide (PACAP) and growth hormone-releasing hormone (GHRH) genes of a vertebrate to give a non-human animal model of age-related memory impairment. A screening method of a preventive and/or remedy for age-related memory impairment with the use of these animal models.