In the progression of Alzheimer's the brain suffers a significant decrease in the production of acetylcholine.
Another approach to cognitive enhancement, says Dr Robbins, is through a neurotransmitter called acetylcholine.
Potentiation of brain acetylcholine neurons by Kami-Untan-To (KUT) in aged mice: implications for a possible antidementia drug.
They often create too much acetylcholine, which leads to side effects such as nausea and excess salivation.
Acetylcholinesterase inhibitors, or AChEis, help to regulate the neurotransmitter acetylcholine one of the chemicals that cause neurons to fire.
ECONOMIST: Was Gulf-war syndrome caused by chemical poisoning?
When these so-called nicotinic receptors are occupied by acetylcholine molecules, a cell is encouraged to churn out dopamine.
ECONOMIST: Great drug, shame about the delivery system | The
The drugs affect a neurotransmitter in the brain called acetylcholine and can cause dizziness, drowsiness, confusion, and memory loss.
FORBES: What Is the "July Effect" - And Can It Really Kill You?
More specialised cells use dopamine, serotonin, acetylcholine and a variety of other molecules.
Acetylcholine is a neurotransmitter in the brain, meaning it is a chemical used to send messages from nerve to nerve.
CNN: Better understanding of dementia leading to more effective therapies
Researchers have found that patients with Alzheimer's disease and several other types of dementia have lower levels of this acetylcholine.
CNN: Better understanding of dementia leading to more effective therapies
Nicotine is sufficiently similar to acetylcholine for it to be able to lock into these receptors, artificially encouraging dopamine production.
ECONOMIST: Great drug, shame about the delivery system | The
Drugs that stop the action of cholinesterase, the enzyme that breaks down acetylcholine, are useful in the treatment of Alzheimer's disease.
CNN: Better understanding of dementia leading to more effective therapies
Four of the five drugs approved for Alzheimer's block an enzyme that breaks down acetylcholine, indirectly increasing levels of this neurotransmitter.
The drug works higher up the chemical cascade and allows the brain's built-in regulatory system to release the proper amount of acetylcholine.
Interest has thus focused on drugs that inhibit the breakdown of acetylcholine, and also on nicotine, which works by mimicking its effect.
Nicotine actually exerts its effect by mimicking a second neurotransmitter called acetylcholine.
ECONOMIST: Great drug, shame about the delivery system | The
The buildup of acetylcholine makes it impossible for muscles to relax in between neurological messages and they go into a state of continual contraction.
FORBES: Sarin Gas Is Deadly, But Fear Is More Powerful And More Deadly
If too little acetylcholine is part of the problem, then it might be possible to tackle the deficiency by inhibiting the activity of this enzyme.
It works similarly to many pesticides, by blocking the breakdown of acetylcholine, a major neurotransmitter, leading to a rapid buildup of this chemical in the body.
FORBES: Sarin Gas Is Deadly, But Fear Is More Powerful And More Deadly
Nerve agents stop the body from breaking down the acetylcholine neurotransmitter, overwhelming the nervous system and causing convulsions that can lead to death within minutes of exposure.
Experts aren't sure how organophosphates might interfere with fetal brain development, although they do know that in insects the pesticides slow the breakdown of acetylcholine, an important neurotransmitter.
Surplus acetylcholine is mopped up by an enzyme called cholinesterase.
The drug atropine allows the body to manage the excess acetylcholine, and the AtroPen injection device that can deliver it has been used by the U.S. Department of Defense since 1959.
Dopamine-producing nerve cells have acetylcholine-receptor molecules on their surfaces.
ECONOMIST: Great drug, shame about the delivery system | The
Though the receptors got their name through their association with nicotine, their primary function in the brain is to regulate the release of a variety of neurotransmitters, including acetylcholine, which aids learning and memory.
Nerves from a part of the rat brain known as the basal forebrain are thought to secrete the chemical acetylcholine into the brain's main vision center, also called the primary visual cortex, reinforcing connections that were recently active.
MSN: Goggle-wearing rats show link between learning, rewards
When the scientists injected the rats with a neurotoxin that blocks those acetylcholine-releasing nerves, however, the rats' brains continued to remember the licking time for each signal, suggesting the acetylcholine and basal forebrain weren't needed to maintain those associations.
MSN: Goggle-wearing rats show link between learning, rewards
Several different biochemical mechanisms believed to be involved in the disease are under investigation, but one that has already yielded results is the observation that the brains of Alzheimer's patients are deficient in acetylcholine, a chemical that nerve cells use to exchange messages.
Acting as a messenger between the central nervous system and the major organs, the vagus nerve slows the heart rate (through the release of the neurotransmitter acetylcholine), calms the immune response (by controlling the release of proteins called cytokines), and communicates with the muscles that control respiration and digestion.
应用推荐