This book presents an authoritative, extensive exploration of the models of degenerative diseases, providing coverage of the preclinical models that are essential for investigation of principles of the diseases, mechanisms of development of functional deficits, and development of therapeutic approaches, including safety analysis.  The book is divided into four major sections.  The introductory section provides a definition of neurodegenerative diseases as objects of modeling, their classification, and an overview of their features and pathogenetic mechanisms, types of models and their importance, and translational applications and limitations. Section 2 discusses approaches to study the models from the behavioral, motor, cognitive, electrophysiological, biochemical, and structural standpoints.  Chapters in Section 3 are organized according to individual neurodegenerative diseases, highlighting specific features of the models and providing examples of disorders-oriented models. The final section focuses on using preclinical models to develop and test new therapies for neurodegenerative diseases.  The book will appeal to neuroscientists, laboratory scientists, neurologists, biologists, and PhD students dealing with basic research of neurodegenerative diseases as well as other phases of translation research, including the development and testing of treatment methods.

Jan Cendelin, MD, is Associate Professor, Department of Pathophysiology, Faculty of Medicine in Pilsen, Charles University, Plzen, Czech Republic

Jan Tuma, PhD, is Assistant Professor, Department of Pathophysiology, Faculty of Medicine in Pilsen, Charles University, Plzen, Czech Republic

Mario Manto, MD, is Professor of Neuroanatomy, University of Mons, and Head of the Department of Neurology at the CHU-Charleroi, Belgium. He is Series Editor for the Springer series, Contemporary Clinical Neuroscience