Why old dogs might be able to teach Alzheimer’s researchers new tricks

Researchers studying Alzheimer's disease have long relied on mice, but 99% of drugs that worked in mice have failed in human trials, partly because mice don't naturally develop the protein buildup seen in human dementia. A team of scientists, including a neurotoxicologist and veterinary neurologist, instead examined brain samples from aging companion dogs whose owners consented to donation after natural death or euthanasia for quality-of-life reasons.

The dogs, many diagnosed with canine cognitive dysfunction syndrome affecting over a quarter of dogs past age 12, showed the same abnormal protein deposits in the same brain regions as people with early dementia. Blood tests also revealed elevated levels of a protein called GFAP, usually only seen during brain injury, suggesting a possible new biomarker for tracking cognitive decline in both dogs and humans.

The broader Dog Aging Project tracks more than 50,000 companion dogs to study aging across the whole body, including a battery of cognitive tests designed to catch changes before symptoms appear. The hope is that studying naturally occurring dementia in dogs could succeed where decades of engineered mouse models have not.

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