PINK1 and atherosclerosis: In addition to AD animal modeling, severe dopamine loss and motor behavior deficits induced by overexpression of α-synuclein only could be reproduced in PD rat model.37 Deletion of Pink1 in rats but not in mice exhibit critical pathologies of α-synuclein aggregates and dopamine neuronal death.38,94 More comprehensive phenotypes in transgenic rats have been also shown in modeling atherosclerosis.95 Moreover, rats are more similar to human in physiology and behaviors than mice.