Choline acetyltransferase activity in vascular dementia and stroke.
OBJECTIVE
Alterations in cholinergic activity have not been systematically studied in types of cerebrovascular disease. We examined cholinergic function at postmortem, focussing on stroke and vascular dementia (VaD).


METHODS
Post-mortem brain tissue was studied from 61 patients with stroke or VaD (13 infarct dementia; 8 stroke/no dementia; 11 sub-cortical ischaemic VaD, SIVD; 29 VaD and concurrent Alzheimer's disease, AD), 12 patients with AD and 23 controls. Choline acetyltransferase (ChAT) was measured in Brodmann areas (BA) 9 and 20/21.


RESULTS
There were significant reductions in ChAT activity in patients with VaD and concurrent AD compared to age-matched controls (BA9: t = 2.7, p = 0.009; BA20/21: t = 4.67, p = 0.000). In patients with infarct dementia, there was a significant 27% increase in ChAT activity in BA9 (t = 2.1, p = 0.047), but not in BA20/21 (t = 1.67, p = 0.106), compared to the age-matched control group. There was no relationship between ChAT activity and cognition in the VaD patients.


CONCLUSIONS
Loss of cholinergic function is only evident in VaD patients with concurrent AD. A novel increase in cholinergic activity was identified in patients with infarct dementia, which may create important new treatment opportunities.
Sharp
Sally I
SI
Wolfson Centre for Age-Related Diseases, Guy's Campus, London, UK.
Francis
Paul T
PT
Elliott
Mark S J
MS
Kalaria
Rajesh N
RN
Bajic
Natasha
N
Hortobagyi
Tibor
T
Ballard
Clive G
CG
D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000201:enzymology / Q000473:pathology; D001921:Brain / Q000473:pathology; D002544:Cerebral Infarction / Q000150:complications / Q000201:enzymology / Q000473:pathology; D002795:Choline O-Acetyltransferase / Q000378:metabolism*; D015140:Dementia, Vascular / Q000201:enzymology* / Q000473:pathology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006863:Hydrogen-Ion Concentration; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D017397:Prefrontal Cortex / Q000201:enzymology; D020521:Stroke / Q000201:enzymology* / Q000473:pathology; D013702:Temporal Lobe / Q000201:enzymology
D002795:Choline O-Acetyltransferase