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Therapy of the Cognitive Deficit in Alzheimer’s Disease: The Cholinergic System

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Cholinergic Basis for Alzheimer Therapy

Part of the book series: Advances in Alzheimer Disease Therapy ((AADT))

Abstract

One of the earliest and most characteristic changes in Alzheimer disease (AD) is a decrease in cholinergic innervation of the cerebral cortex and of many major subcortical structures important to information processing (Whitehouse et al 1982). Initially the pathological findings of deficient cholinergic activity were used to support a hypothesis that the cholinergic loss was an etiologic or pathogenetic factor in the development of the anatomical pathology characteristic of AD (Whitehouse et al., 1981; Struble et al., 1982; Coyle et al., 1983 and Arendt et al., 1985). Now a more restricted reformulation recognizes that the cholinergic deficiency may account for some of the cognitive deficits found in AD. This has focused attention on the need to describe the relation of the cholinergic system to behavior in normal humans and in AD patients. Another outgrowth of this interest in the cholinergic deficit in AD has been the intensification of efforts to test cholinomimetic approaches for efficacy in AD therapy.

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    1. Robert E. Becker
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    1. Department of Psychiatry School of Medicine, Southern Illinois University, Springfield, IL, 62794, USA

      Robert Becker

    2. Department of Pharmacology School of Medicine, Southern Illinois University, Springfield, IL, 62794, USA

      Ezio Giacobini

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    Becker, R.E. (1991). Therapy of the Cognitive Deficit in Alzheimer’s Disease: The Cholinergic System. In: Becker, R., Giacobini, E. (eds) Cholinergic Basis for Alzheimer Therapy. Advances in Alzheimer Disease Therapy. Birkhäuser, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4899-6738-1_1

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