Overview

• The University of Edinburgh–led research published in the European Journal of Neuroscience identified amyloid-beta buildup at synapses and evidence of astrocyte and microglial synaptic pruning in cats with cognitive decline.
• Results indicate naturally occurring feline dementia shares cellular hallmarks with human Alzheimer’s, positioning ageing cats as a potentially more accurate model than genetically modified rodents.
• Investigators propose exploring whether therapies under development for human Alzheimer’s could be trialed in ageing pets and yield insights for human treatment.
• Researchers emphasize that findings are preliminary and observational, based on a modest sample of 25 post-mortem cases, and call for further studies to confirm causation and evaluate safety.
• The project was funded by Wellcome and the UK Dementia Research Institute, involving collaborators from the University of Edinburgh, University of California, UK DRI and Scottish Brain Sciences.