[The role of nicotinic receptor in memory impairment: a study using event-related potentials and midlatency...

To evaluate the efficacy of chronic nicotine administration in dementia, electrical field distributions of event-related potentials (ERPs) and midlatency response (MLR) were recorded and were analyzed in terms of time and space. The study was carried out on 22 normal individuals and 17 patients with dementia (vascular dementia, Alzheimer disease and Parkinson disease). Nicotine was delivered transdermally from a nicotine patch (22.5 to 52 mg/day) for 2 or 4 weeks. Dementing patients showed abnormal ERPs in latency, amplitude and electrical field on the scalp. Decreased amplitude and electrical field abnormality of P1 in MLR was also seen in some patients with dementia. These abnormal ERPs and MLR of the patients improved after administration of nicotine especially in P300 latency of ERPs and P1 amplitude of MLR. These data suggest that nicotine administration might be useful as a cognitive enhancer in memory impairment.