CENTRAL CHOLINERGIC PATHWAYS

新皮质外套膜和边缘前脑结构受到限制 胆碱能神经支配。最近的实验证明， 事实上，所有这些神经支配都来自大脑中的胆碱能神经元。 基底前脑。这些胆碱能神经元位于隔区， 在Meynert斜角带核和基底核。我们 建议编制一份这些神经元在脑内分布的详细图谱 猴子和人类。此外，我们还将研究它们的发射机 细胞化学、形态特化和连接模式。我们 也将研究这些胆碱能投射与年龄相关的变化 神经元。 中枢胆碱能通路与人类疾病状况的相关性 最近成为了人们极感兴趣的焦点。事实证明， 阿尔茨海默病患者有选择性皮质损害 胆碱能神经支配，这种损害可能反映了对 基底核。从基底核到下丘脑的胆碱能通路 精神分裂症、亨廷顿病患者的皮质外套膜也可能异常 还有帕金森症。有理由相信，一些人 与年龄相关的认知变化也与 皮质胆碱能神经支配异常。因此，信息 中枢胆碱能通路可能直接与广谱相关 精神和神经疾病以及认知改变 发生在生理衰老的过程中。 我们将采用的方法包括：免疫组织化学 抗胆碱乙酰转移酶、乙酰胆碱酯酶的单抗 组织化学、辣根过氧化物酶、氚氨基的轴突运输 酸、荧光示踪剂、高尔基体技术和2-脱氧葡萄糖 放射自显影。

The neocortical mantle and limbic forebrain structures receive susbtantial cholinergic innervation. Recent experiments have established that virtually all of this innervation arises from cholinergic neurons in the basal forebrain. These cholinergic neurons are found in the septal area, in the diagonal band nuclei and in the nucleus basalis of Meynert. We propose to prepare a detailed atlas of the distribution of these neurons in monkeys and in humans. Furthermore, we will study their transmitter cytochemistry, morphological specializations and connectivity patterns. We will also investigate age-related changes in these cholinergic projection neurons. The relevance of central cholinergic pathways to human disease conditions has recently become the focus of great interest. It has been shown that patients with Alzheimer's Disease have a selective impairment of cortical cholinergic innervation and that this impairment may reflect damage to the nucleus basalis. The cholinergic pathways from the nucleus basalis to the cortical mantle may also be abnormal in schizophrenia, Huntington's Disease and in Parkinsonism. There is reason to believe that some of the age-related changes in cognition are also intimately related to abnormalities in the cholinergic innervation of cortex. Thus, information of central cholinergic pathways may be directly relevant to a wide spectrum of mental and neurological diseases as well as to the cognitive alterations that occur in the course of physiological aging. The methods that we will employ include: immunohistochemistry with monoclonal antibodies to choline acetyltransferase, acetylcholinesterase histochemistry, axonal transport of horseradish peroxidase, tritiated amino acids, and fluorescent tracers, Golgi techniques and 2-deoxyglucose autoradiography.