Finally, nAChR α7 agonist treatment of aged 3X Tg AD mice, at a time when subjects showed marked AD related pathology (i.e. β amyloid plaques, neuro-inflammation and neurofibrillary tangles), significantly improved spatial learning and memory in the Morris water maze task, object recognition memory and contextual fear memory demonstrating efficacy in a disease relevant model for this mechanism [26]. Here, CHRNA7 is linked to Alzheimer disease.