title: Cerebral acetylcholine esterase activity in mild cognitive impairment.
abstract: Mild cognitive impairment may be an early clinical manifestation of Alzheimer's disease, but there are also patients who remain stable or remit. In-vivo measurements of cortical acetylcholine esterase activity by positron emission tomography have shown that it is reduced in Alzheimer's disease, and we investigated whether there is also a reduction in mild cognitive impairment. A significant reduction was observed in three of eight patients, and a significant association was found with progression to Alzheimer's disease within 18 months. These results suggest that low cortical acetylcholine esterase activity may be an indicator of impending dementia in patients with mild cognitive impairment.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, University of Cologne, Köln, Germany. karl.herholz@manchester.ac.uk
authors.forename: Karl
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Herholz
authors.forename: Simon
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Weisenbach
authors.forename: Elke
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Kalbe
authors.forename: Nico J
authors.initials: NJ
authors.lastname: Diederich
authors.forename: Wolf-Dieter
authors.initials: WD
authors.lastname: Heiss
mesh_terms: D000110:Acetylcholinesterase / Q000378:metabolism*; D000368:Aged; D000375:Aging / Q000378:metabolism; D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000378:metabolism*; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000378:metabolism; D001921:Brain / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000201:enzymology*; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000378:metabolism; D018450:Disease Progression; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D049268:Positron-Emission Tomography; D012720:Severity of Illness Index
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers; D000110:Acetylcholinesterase