Biomaterial Database

Human nicotinic receptors--their role in aging and dementia. 1994

A Nordberg

Department of Geriatric Medicine, Karolinska Institute, Huddinge University Hospital, Sweden.

Multiple nicotinic receptors seem to exist in brain as revealed by neurophysiological, neurochemical, molecular and immunological studies. The mechanisms for their involvement in higher functions including learning and memory are still relatively unknown. The nicotinic receptor subtypes in human brain undergo changes during aging. Deficits of brain nicotinic receptors have been traced in neurodegenerative disorders as Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's disease. Brain imaging studies in patients and neurochemical studies in autopsy brain tissue from Alzheimer patients reveal significant losses of the nicotinic receptors. New therapeutic compounds tried in Alzheimer's disease, aiming to increase cholinergic activity in the brain, act via the nicotinic receptors in brain. Augmentation of nicotinic receptor function in brain might be of importance for alleviating some of the cognitive impairments in Alzheimer's disease.

UI	MeSH Term	Description	Entries
D011978	Receptors, Nicotinic	One of the two major classes of cholinergic receptors. Nicotinic receptors were originally distinguished by their preference for NICOTINE over MUSCARINE. They are generally divided into muscle-type and neuronal-type (previously ganglionic) based on pharmacology, and subunit composition of the receptors.	Nicotinic Acetylcholine Receptors,Nicotinic Receptors,Nicotinic Acetylcholine Receptor,Nicotinic Receptor,Acetylcholine Receptor, Nicotinic,Acetylcholine Receptors, Nicotinic,Receptor, Nicotinic,Receptor, Nicotinic Acetylcholine,Receptors, Nicotinic Acetylcholine
D003704	Dementia	An acquired organic mental disorder with loss of intellectual abilities of sufficient severity to interfere with social or occupational functioning. The dysfunction is multifaceted and involves memory, behavior, personality, judgment, attention, spatial relations, language, abstract thought, and other executive functions. The intellectual decline is usually progressive, and initially spares the level of consciousness.	Senile Paranoid Dementia,Amentia,Familial Dementia,Amentias,Dementia, Familial,Dementias,Dementias, Familial,Dementias, Senile Paranoid,Familial Dementias,Paranoid Dementia, Senile,Paranoid Dementias, Senile,Senile Paranoid Dementias
D006801	Humans	Members of the species Homo sapiens.	Homo sapiens,Man (Taxonomy),Human,Man, Modern,Modern Man
D000375	Aging	The gradual irreversible changes in structure and function of an organism that occur as a result of the passage of time.	Senescence,Aging, Biological,Biological Aging