Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a leading cause of death and disability, especially in the younger population. In the acute phase after TBI, patients are more vulnerable to infection, associated with a decreased immune response in vitro. The cause of this immune paralysis is poorly understood. Apart from other neurologic dysfunction, TBI also results in an increase in vagal activity. Recently, ...

Triple therapy for COPD consists of a long-acting anti-cholinergic bronchodilator, a long-acting beta-agonist bronchodilator, and an inhaled corticosteroid. Guidelines from the Canadian Thoracic Society advocate triple therapy for some patients with moderate-to-severe COPD. The objective of this review was to evaluate the evidence based clinical efficacy of triple therapy compared to dual bronc...

Wakefulness, along with fast cortical rhythms and associated cognition, depend on the basal forebrain (BF). BF cholinergic cell loss in dementia and the sedative effect of anti-cholinergic drugs have long implicated these neurons as important for cognition and wakefulness. The BF also contains intermingled inhibitory GABAergic and excitatory glutamatergic cell groups whose exact neurobiological...

in the previous studies the relaxant, anti-cholinergic (functional antagonism) and anti-histaminic effects of nigella sativa have been demonstrated on guinea pig tracheal chains. to elucidate the main substance responsible for the relaxant effect of this plant, the effect of thymoquinone, one of the main constituent of nigella sativa was examined in this study. the bronchodilatory effects of th...

objective(s): alzheimer's disease (ad) is a neurodegenerative disorder in elderly patients. decrease in cholinergic neurotransmission is the main known cause in the pathophysiology of the disease. improvement and potentiation of the cholinergic system could be beneficial for treatment of the ad. acetylcholinesterase inhibitors such as donepezil can enhance the duration of action of acetylc...

Background: Teucrium polium has been known as an important traditional medicinal plant and is used for different therapeutic purposes such as gastrointestinal disorders. Therefore, the anti-spasmodic and antinociceptive activities of aqueous extract of Teucrium polium w as examined. Methods: Anti-spasmodic effect of different concentrations (47-470 mg/l) of Teucrium polium extract was assessed ...

Although extensive evidence supports the role of β-amyloid (Aβ) in Alzheimer disease (AD), the neurotoxic mechanisms underlying AD pathogenesis are not understood. On the other hand, neuronal loss is the pathologic feature that best correlates with cognitive impairment. We hypothesized that cholinergic neurodegeneration may lead to Aβ deposition and tested this by inducing selective cholinergic...

Kidney ischemia/reperfusion injury (I/R) is characterized by renal dysfunction and tubular damages resulting from an early activation of innate immunity. Recently, nicotine administration has been shown to be a powerful inhibitor of a variety of innate immune responses, including LPS-induced toxaemia. This cholinergic anti-inflammatory pathway acts via the alpha7 nicotinic acetylcholine recepto...

Nicotine, as one of the most important components of cigarette smoke and the key contributor of initiating and maintaining tobacco dependence, has anti-inflammatory effect in the cells of both nervous system and immune system. Among the different types of subunits of nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChR), α7 nAChR is related to the immune response. Nicotine exerts anti-inflammatory effect t...

Degeneration of central cholinergic neurons impairs memory, and enhancement of cholinergic synapses improves cognitive processes. Cholinergic signaling is also anti-inflammatory, and neuroinflammation is increasingly linked to adverse memory, especially in Alzheimer's disease. Much of the evidence surrounding cholinergic impacts on the neuroimmune system focuses on the α7 nicotinic acetylcholin...