• Atticus H Hainsworth, Stuart M Allan, Johannes Boltze, Catriona Cunningham, Chad Farris, Elizabeth Head, Masafumi Ihara, Jeremy D Isaacs, Raj N Kalaria, Saskia A M J Lesnik Oberstein, Mark B Moss, Björn Nitzsche, Gary A Rosenberg, Julie W Rutten, Melita Salkovic-Petrisic, and Aron M Troen.
• Clinical Neurosciences (J-0B) Molecular and Clinical Sciences Research Institute, St George's University of London, Cranmer Terrace, London, SW17 0RE, UK. ahainsworth@sgul.ac.uk.
• Bmc Med. 2017 Jan 25; 15 (1): 16.

BackgroundDisease models are useful for prospective studies of pathology, identification of molecular and cellular mechanisms, pre-clinical testing of interventions, and validation of clinical biomarkers. Here, we review animal models relevant to vascular cognitive impairment (VCI). A synopsis of each model was initially presented by expert practitioners. Synopses were refined by the authors, and subsequently by the scientific committee of a recent conference (International Conference on Vascular Dementia 2015). Only peer-reviewed sources were cited.MethodsWe included models that mimic VCI-related brain lesions (white matter hypoperfusion injury, focal ischaemia, cerebral amyloid angiopathy) or reproduce VCI risk factors (old age, hypertension, hyperhomocysteinemia, high-salt/high-fat diet) or reproduce genetic causes of VCI (CADASIL-causing Notch3 mutations).ConclusionsWe concluded that (1) translational models may reflect a VCI-relevant pathological process, while not fully replicating a human disease spectrum; (2) rodent models of VCI are limited by paucity of white matter; and (3) further translational models, and improved cognitive testing instruments, are required.

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