title: Donepezil increases contrast sensitivity for the detection of objects in scenes.
abstract: We assessed the effects of donepezil, a drug that stimulates cholinergic transmission, and scopolamine, an antagonist of cholinergic transmission, on contrast sensitivity. 30 young male participants were tested under three treatment conditions: placebo, donepezil, and scopolamine in a random order. Pairs of photographs varying in contrast were displayed left and right of fixation for 50 ms. Participants were asked to locate the scene containing an animal. Accuracy was better under donepezil than under scopolamine, particularly for signals of high intensity (at higher levels of contrast). A control experiment showed that the lower performance under scopolamine did not result from the mydriasis induced by scopolamine. The results suggest that cholinergic stimulation, through donepezil, facilitates signal detection in agreement with studies on animals showing that the pharmacological activation of cholinergic receptors controls the gain in the relationship between the stimulus contrast (intensity of the visual input) and visual response. As Alzheimer disease is associated to depletion in acetylcholine, and there is evidence of deficits in contrast sensitivity in Alzheimer, it might be interesting to integrate such rapid and sensitive visual tasks in the biomarkers at early stage of drug development.
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire de Sciences Cognitives et Affectives SCALab, Université de Lille, CNRS, France. Electronic address: muriel.boucart@chru-lille.fr.
authors.forename: Muriel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Boucart
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire de Sciences Cognitives et Affectives SCALab, Université de Lille, CNRS, France.
authors.forename: Giovanna
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Bubbico
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire de Sciences Cognitives et Affectives SCALab, Université de Lille, CNRS, France.
authors.forename: Sebastien
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Szaffarczyk
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire de Sciences Cognitives et Affectives SCALab, Université de Lille, CNRS, France.
authors.forename: Sabine
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Defoort
authors.affiliation: U1171, Université de Lille, INSERM, Centre Hospitalier et Universitaire, Lille, France.
authors.forename: Amelie
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ponchel
authors.affiliation: CIC1403, Université de Lille, INSERM, Centre Hospitalier et Universitaire, Lille, France.
authors.forename: Nawal
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Waucquier
authors.affiliation: U1171, Université de Lille, INSERM, Centre Hospitalier et Universitaire, Lille, France; CIC1403, Université de Lille, INSERM, Centre Hospitalier et Universitaire, Lille, France.
authors.forename: Dominique
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Deplanque
authors.affiliation: U1171, Université de Lille, INSERM, Centre Hospitalier et Universitaire, Lille, France.
authors.forename: Julie
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Deguil
authors.affiliation: U1171, Université de Lille, INSERM, Centre Hospitalier et Universitaire, Lille, France.
authors.forename: Régis
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Bordet
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D018680:Cholinergic Antagonists / Q000008:administration & dosage; D002800:Cholinesterase Inhibitors / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D015350:Contrast Sensitivity / Q000187:drug effects*; D000077265:Donepezil; D006801:Humans; D007189:Indans / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D008297:Male; D010364:Pattern Recognition, Visual / Q000187:drug effects; D010880:Piperidines / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D011930:Reaction Time / Q000187:drug effects; D012601:Scopolamine / Q000008:administration & dosage; D017603:Signal Detection, Psychological / Q000187:drug effects*; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D018680:Cholinergic Antagonists; D002800:Cholinesterase Inhibitors; D007189:Indans; D010880:Piperidines; D000077265:Donepezil; D012601:Scopolamine
keywords: Acetylcholine; Alzheimer; Contrast perception; Donepezil; Scopolamine