Differential response to the cholinergic agonist arecoline among different cognitive modalities in Alzheimer's disease.
Nine patients with possible or probable dementia of the Alzheimer type were tested on nine cognitive tests prior to (two times) and during continuous intravenous administration of five different doses of the muscarinic cholinergic agonist arecoline (1, 4, 16, 28, and 40 mg/day). The present analysis examined whether improvement on cognitive testing for each patient during arecoline treatment was most likely to occur at the same dose for all tests or whether different test scores improved at different doses of arecoline. Results indicated there were significant differences among tests in the dose at which most patients showed improved cognitive performance. These differences may have therapeutic significance, as verbal ability tended to improve at low doses of arecoline, whereas attention and visuospatial ability tended to improve at higher doses of arecoline.
Raffaele
K C
KC
Laboratory of Neurosciences, National Institute on Aging, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA.
Asthana
S
S
Berardi
A
A
Haxby
J V
JV
Morris
P P
PP
Schapiro
M B
MB
Soncrant
T T
TT
D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000523:psychology*; D001115:Arecoline / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D001288:Attention / Q000187:drug effects; D018679:Cholinergic Agonists / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D003071:Cognition / Q000187:drug effects*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007262:Infusions, Intravenous; D008297:Male; D008568:Memory / Q000187:drug effects; D011939:Mental Recall / Q000187:drug effects; D008875:Middle Aged; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000187:drug effects; D013028:Space Perception / Q000187:drug effects
D018679:Cholinergic Agonists; D001115:Arecoline