Effects of nicotinic cholinergic agents on cognitive functioning in Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease

Estrogen Treatment Effects on Anticholinergic-Induced Cognitive Dysfunction in Normal Postmenopausal Women

“…MECA impaired cognitive performance in all groups in an age-and disease-dependent way. Younger adults showed impairments only after the largest dose of MECA (Newhouse et al, 1992), older adults show impairments after the medium and largest doses (Newhouse et al, 1994), and AD patients showed impairments at all doses (Newhouse et al, 1993). The impairments were manifest in learning phases of the tasks, but not during retrieval.…”

“…Newhouse et al (1992Newhouse et al ( , 1993Newhouse et al ( , 1994 used the nicotinic antagonist mecamylamine (MECA) to examine cognitive functioning in younger adults, healthy older adults, and patients with mild to moderate AD. MECA impaired cognitive performance in all groups in an age-and disease-dependent way.…”

Paying Attention to Your Acetylcholine, Part 2: The Function of Nicotinic Receptors

“…9 The α 7 nicotinic receptors may inhibit β-amyloid-induced neuronal death and thereby confer a neuroprotective action in Alzheimer's disease. 10 In addition, strong genetic and pharmacologic evidence suggests that the α 7 nicotinic receptor is involved in the attentional and cognitive deficit associated with schizophrenia, known as an auditory-gating defi- Location: Central nervous system.…”

Thioanalogues of N-1-methylanabasine and nicotine – Synthesis and structure

“…They exert negative effect on the cardio-vascular system and alimentary system, cause sleep disturbance and addiction [4][5][6]. Despite these known negative effects they are considered promising for therapy of some neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's, Parkinson's [4][5][6], Tourette's syndrome [7], attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) [8] and schizophrenia [9][10][11][12]. These effects presumably are a result of interaction with nicotinic acetylocholine receptors (nACHR) [13,14], which are found on skeletal muscles at the neuromuscular junction, in the peripheral nervous system, and at numerous sites in the central nervous system [15].…”