title: Topography, extent, and clinical relevance of neurochemical deficits in dementia of Lewy body type, Parkinson's disease, and Alzheimer's disease.
abstract: Cholinergic and monoaminergic (dopaminergic and serotonergic) activities have been examined in postmortem brain tissue in senile dementia of Lewy body type, Parkinson's disease, and Alzheimer's disease. Quantitative data suggest that although extrapyramidal symptoms relate to striatal levels of dopamine, cognitive impairment is most closely associated with cholinergic (but not monoaminergic) deficits in temporal and archicortical areas. Hallucinations, which are most frequent in Lewy body dementia, appear to be related to an extensive cholinergic deficit in temporal neocortex and the resulting imbalance between decreased cholinergic and relatively preserved serotonergic activities. Topographic analyses such as these including consideration of quantitative "threshold" effects, may be relevant to the future anatomic focus of neurochemical investigations in dementia and to the development of appropriate experimental models.
authors.affiliation: MRC Neurochemical Pathology Unit, Newcastle General Hospital, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: E K
authors.initials: EK
authors.lastname: Perry
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: McKeith
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Thompson
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Marshall
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kerwin
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Jabeen
authors.forename: J A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Edwardson
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Ince
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Blessed
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Irving
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000473:pathology; D002795:Choline O-Acetyltransferase / Q000378:metabolism; D003704:Dementia / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D006212:Hallucinations; D006719:Homovanillic Acid / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D006897:Hydroxyindoleacetic Acid / Q000378:metabolism; D016631:Lewy Bodies / Q000473:pathology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D010300:Parkinson Disease / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology
chemical_list: D006897:Hydroxyindoleacetic Acid; D002795:Choline O-Acetyltransferase; D006719:Homovanillic Acid