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Updated: May 10, 2026

Stereological Estimation of Cholinergic Fiber Length in the Nucleus Basalis of Meynert of the Mouse Brain
Published on: February 5, 2020
Cholinergic activity correlates with reserve proxies in Alzheimer's disease
Valentina Garibotto1, Marco Tettamanti, Alessandra Marcone
1Geneva University and Geneva University Hospital, Geneva, Switzerland. valentina.garibotto@hcuge.ch
Abstract:
The clinical expression of Alzheimer's disease (AD) occurs as neuropathology exceeds the brain "reserve capacity." A possible association between the cholinergic system and reserve is suggested by preclinical observations that the cholinergic system allows cortical plasticity and by clinical observations of variable responses to cholinergic treatments depending on the patient's educational level. The aim of this study was to investigate the association of reserve proxies, that is, education and occupation, with acetylcholinesterase (AChE) activity, measured voxelwise by [(11)C]-MP4A and positron emission tomography (PET), in 9 healthy controls (HC), 7 patients with early probable AD, and 9 subjects with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) at the time of PET imaging, who progressed to AD at follow-up (prodromal AD). The analysis of prodromal and early AD showed positive correlations between education and AChE activity in the hippocampus, bilaterally, and between occupation and AChE activity in the right posterior cingulate gyrus. The significant correlation between AChE activity in structures belonging to the memory network and reserve proxies suggests that the brain reserve in AD is associated with a preserved/stimulated cholinergic neurotransmission.
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