The cholinergic system in Alzheimer's disease

doi:10.1016/S0301-0082(97)00028-2

Progress in Neurobiology

Volume 52, Issue 6, August 1997, Pages 511-535

https://doi.org/10.1016/S0301-0082(97)00028-2 Get rights and content

Abstract

The past decade has witnessed an enormous increase in our knowledge of the variety and complexity of neuropathological and neurochemical changes in Alzheimer's disease. Although the disease is characterized by multiple deficits of neurotransmitters in the brain, this overview emphasizes the structural and neurochemical localization of the elements of the acetylcholine system (choline acetyl-transferase, acetylcholinesterase, and muscarinic and nicotinic acetyl-choline receptors) in the non-demented brain and in Alzheimer's disease brain samples. The results demonstrate a great variation in the distribution of acetylcholinesterase, choline acetyltransferase, and the nicotinic and muscarinic acetylcholine receptors in the different brain areas, nuclei and subnuclei. When stratification is present in certain brain regions (olfactory bulb, cortex, hippocampus, etc.), differences can be detected as regards the laminar distribution of the elements of the acetylcholine system.

Alzheimer's disease involves a substantial loss of the elements of the cholinergic system. There is evidence that the most affected areas include the cortex, the entorhinal area, the hippocampus, the ventral striatum and the basal part of the forebrain. Other brain areas are less affected. The fact that the acetylcholine system, which plays a significant role in the memory function, is seriously impaired in Alzheimer's disease has accelerated work on the development of new drugs for treatment of the disease of the 20th century, © 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd The past decade has witnessed an enormous increase in our knowledge of the variety and complexity of neuropathological and neurochemical changes in Alzheimer's disease. Although the disease is characterized by multiple deficits of neurotransmitters in the brain, this overview emphasizes the structural and neurochemical localization of the elements of the acetylcholine system (choline acetyl-transferase, acetylcholinesterase, and muscarinic and nicotinic acetyl-choline receptors) in the non-demented brain and in Alzheimer's disease brain samples. The results demonstrate a great variation in the distribution of acetylcholinesterase, choline acetyltransferase, and the nicotinic and muscarinic acetylcholine receptors in the different brain areas, nuclei and subnuclei. When stratification is present in certain brain regions (olfactory bulb, cortex, hippocampus, etc.), differences can be detected as regards the laminar distribution of the elements of the acetylcholine system.

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The cholinergic system in Alzheimer's disease

Abstract

Neuroscience

Neurosci. Lett.

Neuroscience

Neurochem. Int.

Neurosci. Lett.

Lancet

Brain Res

Trends Neurosci.

Neuron

Brain Res.

Neuroscience

J. Neurol. Sci.

Neuroscience

Dev. Brain Res.

Neurobiol. Aging

Brain Res.

Brain Res.

Lancet

Life Sci.

Neuroscience

Life Sci.

Prog. Neurobiol.

Brain Res.

Neurosci. Lett.

Neuroscience

Brain Res.

Prog. Brain Res.

Cell

Neurosci. Lett.

Neurochem. Int.

Neurochem. Int.

Molec. Brain Res.

Brain Res.

Neurosci. Lett.

Neurosci. Left.

Neuroscience

Neuron

Prog. Neurobiol.

Neuroscience

Neuroscience

Brain Res.

Neurosci. Res.

Neurobiology

Brain Res.

Differential alteration of various cholinergic markers in cortical and subcortical regions of human brain in Alzheimer's disease

J. Neurochem.

Loss of neurons in the nucleus basalis of Meynert in Alzheimer's disease

Acta Neuropath.

Comparative alterations of nicotinic and muscarinic binding sites in Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases

J. Neurochem.