Memory and Cognitive Function in the Elderly

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
Memory and cognitive (M-C) functions are known to decline with advancing age. Pharmacologic studies during the last decade have suggested that this may be due to a decrease in cholinergic function in the brains of the elderly. In particular, two lines of evidence support this concept. First, scopolamine, a cholinergic receptorblocking agent, produces a pattern of M-C impairment in young subjects that closely mimics the pattern seen in the elderly.1,2Second, biochemical studies with the cholinergic receptor ligand, 3-quinuclidinyl benzilate (3H-QNB), have demonstrated a decline in cholinergic receptors in the cerebral cortices of the aged.3Although centrally-active cholinergic agonists (physostigmine, choline, arecoline) have been given to young, normal subjects with some variable improvement in M-C functions4,5and to demented patients with less consistent results,6-8the effects of these drugs on M-C functions innormal agedsubjects have not yet been studied. The purpose of this communication

This publication has 1 reference indexed in Scilit: