The role of acetylcholine in the perirhinal cortex

描述(申请人提供)：阿尔茨海默病(AD)等神经退行性疾病的特征是严重的和衰弱的记忆丧失。观察到这种和其他记忆障碍涉及到颞叶的病理，这导致了由海马体(HC)、周围区(PRH)和内嗅觉皮质组成的“内侧颞叶(MTL)记忆系统”的想法。这些不同的结构似乎执行独特的、但互补的、与记忆相关的功能。由于AD的退变是进行性的，从鼻皮质开始，然后影响HC，分离MTL结构对记忆功能的特定贡献对于了解AD引起的记忆障碍的进展是必要的。因此，本研究提案的一个主要目标是阐明这些结构如何有助于特定的学习和记忆过程。阿尔茨海默病神经生物学研究的第二个方面是胆碱能系统的退化。AD时变性的胆碱能神经元投射到上述MTL结构。因此，我提出的研究的第二个目的是调查乙酰胆碱(ACh)在这些区域对记忆的作用。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's disease (AD) are characterized by a severe and debilitating loss of memory. The observation that this and other disorders of memory involve pathology in the temporal lobe, has led to the idea of a 'Medial Temporal Lobe (MTL) memory system' consisting of the hippocampus (HC), perirhinal (PRh) and entorhinal cortices. These distinct structures appear to perform unique, yet complementary, memory-related functions. As the degeneration of AD is progressive, beginning with the rhinal cortex and later affecting the HC, isolating the specific contributions made by MTL structures to memory functioning is necessary for understanding the progression of memory deficits caused by AD. Thus, a main goal of the present research proposal is to clarify how these structures contribute to specific learning and memory processes. A second aspect of the neurobiology of AD that has received considerable attention is the degeneration of the cholinergic system. The cholinergic neurons that degenerate in AD project to the MTL structures described above. A second aim of my proposed research, therefore, is to investigate the role of acetylcholine (ACh) to memory in these regions.