What is the cholinergic hypothesis?
Cholinergic hypothesis attempts to explain many of the cognitive deficits in AD (particularly memory disturbance) by a deficiency of cholinergic neurotransmission.
Evidence includes the fact that poor memory can be induced in normal people by anticholinergic drugs.
Loss of cholinergic projection neurons in the nucleus basalis of Meynert and loss of choline acetyltransferase activity throughout the cortex of patients with AD correlate with the severity of memory loss.
