The rat enolase 2, gamma promoter was used to drive expression of human presenilin 1 with the P117L mutation in neuronal cells. The mutation is located in the predicted small cytoplasmic loop between the TM1 and TM2 domains. Western blot demonstrated that expression of protein from the transgene was two to three times higher than expression of the endogenous mouse Psen1. Widespread and essentially neuron specific expression was confirmed by in situ hybridization and immunohistochemistry.