Brain Nicotinic and Muscarinic Receptors in Normal Aging and Dementia

The cholinergic receptors are classically divided into two kinds, namely the nicotinic acetylcholine receptor and the muscarinic acetyl-choline receptor. The existence of these receptor types in the peripheral nervous system is well established. This is true also for the muscarinic receptors in the CNS. Attempts to study and characterize nicotinic receptors in brain have been initiated recently. Data on muscarinic receptors in the literature indicate similarities between rodent and human brain concerning number of binding sites and sub-populations (Birdsall et al., 1978; Nordberg and Winblad, 1981; Unden et al., 1983; Garrey et al., 1984). A comparison between fresh surgical and frozen autopsy samples (Unden et al, 1983) showed no difference in binding data, while Whitehouse et al. (1984), using a rat model of the human autopsy process, observed a significant decrease (18%)in Bmax after 48 h at room temperature. The muscarinic receptors seem to be more stable post mortem than the activity of choline acetyltransferase (ChAT) (Perry and Perry, 1980).

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