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The effects of a single oral dose of the acetylcholinesterase inhibitor velnacrine maleate on word and object recognition memory and regional uptake of 99mTc-exametazime were examined in patients with Alzheimer's disease. Word recognition memory was marginally improved 2 h after 75 mg velnacrine. With the same dose of velnacrine a relative increase in superior frontal uptake of 99mTc-exametazime was shown with single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT). This suggests increased regional perfusion and metabolism as a consequence of cholinergic stimulation. The effect did not co-vary with the degree of memory improvement, but, instead, more cognitively impaired patients showed a greater increase in tracer uptake after velnacrine, suggesting cholinergic hypersensitivity in the brains of Alzheimer patients.

Original publication

DOI

10.1007/bf02245293

Type

Journal article

Journal

Psychopharmacology (Berl)

Publication Date

1992

Volume

108

Pages

103 - 109

Keywords

Aged, Alzheimer Disease, Cerebrovascular Circulation, Cholinesterase Inhibitors, Cognition, Double-Blind Method, Female, Humans, Male, Memory, Middle Aged, Physostigmine, Tacrine, Tomography, Emission-Computed, Single-Photon