Elsevier

Neuroscience Letters

Volume 117, Issue 3, 18 September 1990, Pages 347-352
Neuroscience Letters

[3H]Vesamicol binding in human brain cholinergic deficiency disorders

https://doi.org/10.1016/0304-3940(90)90689-7Get rights and content

Abstract

We measured the binding of the vesicular acetylcholine transport blocker [3H]vesamicol (2-[4-phenylpiperidino] cyclohexanol; AH-5183) to autopsied frontal cortex and amygdala of patients from 4 disorders having a marked brain cholinergic reduction, namely Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease with dementia, dominantly inherited olivopontocerebellar atrophy and Down's syndrome. Although mean activity of the specific cholinergic marker enzyme choline acetyltransferase (ChAT) was markedly reduced by about 60% in frontal cortex in the 4 patient groups and by 80% or greater in amygdala of the Alzheimer's and Down's syndrome patients, [3H]vesamicol binding density was, on average, either normal or only slightly reduced as compared with the controls. This discrepancy suggests that in human brain [3H]vesamicol binding is either not preferentially localized to cholinergic nerve endings or, in these cholinergic deficiency syndromes, a substantial proportion of the vesamicol binding sites persist on cholinergic nerve terminals despite loss of ChAT activity.

References (14)

There are more references available in the full text version of this article.

Cited by (63)

  • Prenatal treatment of Down syndrome: A reality?

    2014, Current Opinion in Obstetrics and Gynecology
View all citing articles on Scopus
7

The University of Vienna

View full text