Journal of Stroke & Cerebrovascular Diseases
Volume 12, Issue 1 , Pages 29-36 , January 2003

Strategic involvement of cholinergic pathways and executive dysfunction: Does location of white matter signal hyperintensities matter?

  • Richard H. Swartz, PhD

      Affiliations

    • Institute of Medical Science, University of Toronto
  • ,
  • Demetrios J. Sahlas, MD

      Affiliations

    • Department of Medicine, Division of Neurology, Sunnybrook & Women's College Health Sciences Centre, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
  • ,
  • Sandra E. Black, MD

      Affiliations

    • Institute of Medical Science, University of Toronto
    • Department of Medicine, Division of Neurology, Sunnybrook & Women's College Health Sciences Centre, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Received 26 September 2002 ,Accepted 11 November 2002.

References 

  1. Hulette C, Nochlin D, McKeel D, et al.  Clinical-neuropathologic findings in multi-infarct dementia: a report of six autopsied cases. Neurology. 1997;48:668–672
  2. Snowdon DA, Greiner LH, Mortimer JA, et al.  Brain infarction and the clinical expression of Alzheimer disease. The Nun Study. JAMA. 1997;277:813–817
  3. Vermeer SE, Koudstaal PJ, Oudkerk M, et al.  Prevalence and risk factors of silent brain infarcts in the population-based Rotterdam Scan Study. Stroke. 2002;33:21–25
  4. Perry EK. The cholinergic system in old age and Alzheimer's disease. Age Ageing. 1980;9:1–8
  5. Doody RS, Stevens JC, Beck C, et al.  Practice parameter: Management of dementia (an evidence-based review): Report of the Quality Standards Subcommittee of the American Academy of Neurology. Neurology. 2001;56:1154–1166
  6. Erkinjuntii T, Kurz A, Gauthier S, et al.  Efficacy of galantamine in probable vascular dementia and Alzheimer's disease combined with cerebrovascular disease: a randomized trial. Lancet. 2002;359:1283–1290
  7. Perdomo CA, Pratt RD. A comparison of the effects of donepezil in patients with probable and possible vascular dementia: A combined analysis of two 24-week, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trials (abstract). Neurology. 2002;58(suppl 3):A382
  8. Mesulam MM, Geula C. Nucleus basalis (Ch4) and cortical cholinergic innervation in the human brain: observations based on the distribution of acetylcholinesterase and choline acetyltransferase. J Comp Neurol. 1988;275:216–240
  9. Selden NR, Gitelman DR, Salamon-Murayama N, et al.  Trajectories of cholinergic pathways within the cerebral hemispheres of the human brain. Brain. 1998;121:2249–2257
  10. Lawrence AD, Sahakian BJ. Alzheimer disease, attention, and the cholinergic system. Alzheimer Dis Assoc Disord. 1995;9:43–49
  11. Johnson DA, Zambon NJ, Gibbs RB. Selective lesion of cholinergic neurons in the medial septum by 192 IgG-saporin impairs learning in a delayed matching to position T-maze paradigm. Brain Res. 2002;943:132–141
  12. Muir JL, Page KJ, Sirinathsinghji DJ, et al.  Excitotoxic lesions of basal forebrain cholinergic neurons: effects on learning, memory and attention. Behav Brain Res. 1993;57:123–131
  13. Voytko ML, Olton DS, Richardson RT, et al.  Basal forebrain lesions in monkeys disrupt attention but not learning and memory. J Neurosci. 1994;14:167–186
  14. Pang K, Williams MJ, Egeth H, et al.  Nucleus basalis magnocellularis and attention: effects of muscimol infusions. Behav Neurosci. 1993;107:1031–1038
  15. American Psychiatric Association . Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders. In: Washington DC: American Psychiatric Association; 1994;p. 4
  16. McKhann G, Drachman DA, Folstein MF, et al.  Clinical diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease: Report of the NINCDS-ADRDA Workgroup under the auspices of Department of Health and Human Services Task Force on Alzheimer's Disease. Neurology. 1984;34:939–944
  17. Roman GC, Tatemichi TK, Erkinjuntti T, et al.  Vascular dementia: Diagnostic criteria for research studies. Report of the NINDS-AIREN International Workshop. Neurology. 1993;43:250–260
  18. Graham JE, Rockwood K, Beattie BL, et al.  Prevalence and severity of cognitive impairment with and without dementia in an elderly population. Lancet. 1997;349:1793–1796
  19. Mattis S. Mental Status Examination for Organic Mental Syndrome in the Elderly Patient. In:  Bellak L,  Karasu TB editor. Geriatric Psychiatry. New York: Grune and Stratton; 1976;
  20. Delis DC, Kramer JH, Kaplan E, et al.  California Verbal Learning Test: Adult Version. San Antonio, Texas: The Psychological Corporation; 1987;
  21. Wechsler D. Wechsler Memory Scale—Revised. New York: The Psychological Corporation; 1987;
  22. Lezack MD. Neuropsychological assessment. New York: Oxford University Press; 1983;
  23. Heaton RK. Wisconsin Card Sorting Test manual. Odessa, Florida: Psychological Assessment Resources; 1981;
  24. Benton AL, Hamsher K, Varney NR, et al.  Contributions to Neuropsychological Assessment. New York: Oxford University Press; 1983;
  25. Kaplan EF, Goodglass H, Weintraub S. The Boston Naming Test. Boston: Lea and Febiger; 1978;
  26. Gao FQ, Black SE, Leibovitch FS, et al.  A reliable MR measurement of medial temporal lobe width from the Sunnybrook Dementia Study. Neurobiol Aging. 2003;24:49–56
  27. Fleiss JL. Reliability of measurement. The Design and Analysis of Clinical Experiments. In: New York: John Wiley and Sons; 1986;p. 1–32
  28. Wenk GL. The nucleus basalis magnocellularis cholinergic system: one hundred years of progress. Neurobiol Learn Mem. 1997;67:85–95
  29. Hirono N, Kitagaki H, Kazui H, et al.  Impact of white matter changes on clinical manifestation of Alzheimer's disease: A quantitative study. Stroke. 2000;31:2182–2188
  30. Lee J-H, Olichney JM, Hansen LA, et al.  Small concomitant vascular lesions do not influence rates of cognitive decline in patients with Alzheimer disease. Arch Neurol. 2000;57:1474–1479
  31. Esiri MM, Nagy Z, Smith MZ, et al.  Cerebrovascular disease and threshold for dementia in the early stages of Alzheimer's disease. Lancet. 1999;354:919–920
  32. Tsiskaridze A, Shakarishvili R, Janelidze M, et al.  Cognitive correlates of leukoaraiosis in the early stages of Alzheimer's disease. Funct Neurol. 1998;13:17–25
  33. DeCarli C, Murphy DG, Tranh M, et al.  The effect of white matter hyperintensity volume on brain structure, cognitive performance, and cerebral metabolism of glucose in 51 healthy adults. Neurology. 1995;45:2077–2084
  34. Amar K, Bucks RS, Lewis T, et al.  The effect of white matter low attenuation on cognitive performance in dementia of the Alzheimer type. Age Ageing. 1996;25:443–448
  35. Gold G, Giannakopoulos P, Montes-Paixao JC, et al.  Sensitivity and specificity of newly proposed clinical criteria for possible vascular dementia. Neurology. 1997;49:690–694
  36. Roses AD, Saunders AM. Clinical overdiagnosis of vascular dementia versus necropsy confirmed series. J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry. 1997;62:677–678
  37. van Gijn J. Leukoaraiosis and vascular dementia. Neurology. 1998;51:S3–S8
  38. Pantoni L, Leys D, Fazekas F, et al.  Role of white matter lesions in cognitive impairment of vascular origin. Alzheimer Dis Assoc Disord. 1999;13:S49–S54
  39. Erkinjuntti T, Inzitari D, Pantoni L, et al.  Research criteria for subcortical vascular dementia in clinical trials. J Neural Transm Suppl. 2000;59:23–30
  40. Lee SC, Park SJ, Ki HK, et al.  Prevalence and risk factors of silent cerebral infarction in apparently normal adults. Hypertension. 2000;36:73–77

 Supported by a pilot grant from the Ontario Mental Health Foundation and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) grant # MT13129 to S.E.B. Financial support was provided to R.H.S. through an MD/PhD student fellowship from the CIHR, and to D.J.S. through a partnership grant from the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada (HSFC) and CIHR.

☆☆ Address reprint requests to: Richard H. Swartz, MD, Room A-421, Sunnybrook & Women's College Health Sciences Centre, 2075 Bayview Avenue, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, M4N 3M5.

PII: S1052-3057(02)45905-8

doi: 10.1053/jscd.2003.5

Journal of Stroke & Cerebrovascular Diseases
Volume 12, Issue 1 , Pages 29-36 , January 2003