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Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America logoLink to Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
. 1990 Apr;87(7):2452–2455. doi: 10.1073/pnas.87.7.2452

Regulatory changes in presynaptic cholinergic function assessed in rapid autopsy material from patients with Alzheimer disease: implications for etiology and therapy.

T A Slotkin 1, F J Seidler 1, B J Crain 1, J M Bell 1, G Bissette 1, C B Nemeroff 1
PMCID: PMC53707  PMID: 2320567

Abstract

Brain regions from patients with or without Alzheimer disease (AD) were obtained within 2 hr of death and examined for indices of presynaptic cholinergic function. Consistent with loss of cholinergic projections, cerebral cortical areas involved in AD exhibited decreased choline acetyltransferase (acetyl-CoA:choline O-acetyltransferase, EC 2.3.1.6) activity. However, remaining nerve terminals in these regions displayed marked up-regulation of synaptosomal high affinity [3H]choline uptake, a result indicative of relative cholinergic hyperactivity. As choline uptake is also rate-limiting in acetylcholine biosynthesis, these findings have implications for both therapy and identification of causes contributing to neuronal death in AD.

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Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

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