Clinical trials with cholinergic agents suggest that cholinergic hypertrophy may be beneficial in the treatment of Alzheimer's disease (AD). Recent findings substantiate the view that nerve growth factor (NGF) selectively acts on cholinergic neurons. In adult rats and primates, intraventricular administration of nerve growth factor produces trophic actions on cholinergic neurons and prevents ag...

In this article we will review available evidence concerning the effects of forebrain catecholaminergic and cholinergic activity on verbal perseveration. The anatomy and physiology of these two major neuropharmacological systems make it likely that they influence speech and language functioning directly as well as the cognitive systems that have an indirect impact on speech and language functio...

In most species, the capability of perceiving and using the passage of time in the seconds-to-minutes range (interval timing) is not only accurate but also scalar: errors in time estimation are linearly related to the estimated duration. The ubiquity of scalar timing extends over behavioral, lesion, and pharmacological manipulations. For example, in mammals, dopaminergic drugs induce an immedia...

After a decade of intense study of cholinergic therapies for Alzheimer's disease, three conditions in this field are apparent: 1) The potential that cholinergic agents will ameliorate the memory dysfunction of Alzheimer patients (as 1-dopa benefits Parkinson patients) is still a stimulus for research. 2) Cholinergic neuropharmacology and its impact on the therapy of memory disorders associated ...

Evidence supporting a cholinergic hypothesis of depression is presented. First, cholinergic overdrive produces behavioral, neuroendocrine, and polysomnographic features of melancholia, and melancholics exhibit state-independent supersensitivity to cholinergic overdrive. Drugs inducing up-regulation and supersensitivity of cholinergic systems produce behavioral, polysomnographic, and neuroendocr...

OBJECTIVE This article reviews evidence indicating that acetylcholinesterase inhibitors have psychotropic properties. METHOD The author reviewed the English-language literature pertinent to the response of neuropsychiatric symptoms in Alzheimer's disease and related conditions to cholinergic agents. RESULTS The cholinergic system originates in the basal forebrain and projects diffusely to t...

The pharmacologic response of bladder muscle strip of albino rabbits was studied in vitro. The effect of cholinergic and adrenergic agents and their antagonists were demonstrated with a log dose-response curve. Cholinergic receptors were abundant in detrusor muscle. While the excitory alpha adrenergic receptors existed in bladder neck, the inhibitory beta adrenergic receptors were predominant i...

Organophosphorous compounds have been employed as pesticides and chemical warfare nerve agents. Toxicity of organophosphorous compounds is a result of excessive cholinergic stimulation through inhibition of acetyl cholinesterase. Clinical manifestations include cholinergic syndromes, central nervous system and cardiovascular disorders. Organophosphorous pesticide poisonings are common in develo...