Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 3, 2026
Detecting Behavioral Deficits in Rats After Traumatic Brain Injury
Published on: January 30, 2018
Cholinergic dysfunction after traumatic brain injury: preliminary findings from a PET study
A Östberg1, J Virta, J O Rinne
1Department of Neurology, University of Turku and Turku University Central Hospital, Turku, Finland.
Objective:
There is evidence that the cholinergic system is frequently involved in the cognitive consequences of traumatic brain injury (TBI). We studied whether the brain cholinergic function is altered after TBI in vivo using PET.
Methods:
Cholinergic function was assessed with [methyl-(11)C]N-methylpiperidyl-4-acetate, which reflects the acetylcholinesterase (AChE) activity, in 17 subjects more than 1 year after a TBI and in 12 healthy controls. All subjects had been without any centrally acting drugs for at least 4 weeks.
Results:
The AChE activity was significantly lower in subjects with TBI compared to controls in several areas of the neocortex (-5.9% to -10.8%, p=0.053 to 0.004).
Conclusions:
Patients with chronic cognitive symptoms after TBI show widely lowered AChE activity across the neocortex.
