COX8A and Alzheimer disease: Mitochondrial-related genes were also found to be differentially expressed in AD-like O. degus brains, including the Cytochrome C Oxidase Subunit 8A (COX8A) that has been associated with the reduction of neuronal energy metabolism and mitochondrial dysfunction observed in AD patients by the inhibition of COX activity as a result of binding to Aβ-subunits (Lustbader et al., 2004; Liang et al., 2008).