Notch3 Arg170Cys knock-in mice display pathologic and clinical features of the neurovascular disorder cerebral autosomal dominant arteriopathy with subcortical infarcts and leukoencephalopathy.

Objective: Cerebral autosomal dominant arteriopathy with subcortical infarcts and leukoencephalopathy (CADASIL) is an adult-onset neurovascular disorder caused by stereotyped mutations in the NOTCH3 receptor. Elucidation of its pathobiology is still incomplete and remains a challenge, in part because the available preclinical mouse models to date do not reproduce the full spectrum of CADASIL pathology and clinical disease.

Methods And Results: Here, we report a novel knock-in mouse with Arg170Cys substitution in murine Notch3, corresponding to the prevalent Arg169Cys substitution in CADASIL. The Notch3(Arg170Cys) mice displayed late-onset, dominant CADASIL arteriopathy with typical granular osmiophilic material deposition and developed brain histopathology including thrombosis, microbleeds, gliosis, and microinfarction. Furthermore, Notch3(Arg170Cys) mice experienced neurological symptoms with motor defects such as staggering gait and limb paresis.

Conclusions: This model, for the first time, phenocopies the arteriopathy and the histopathologic as well as clinical features of CADASIL and may offer novel opportunities to investigate disease pathogenesis.