Bilateral symmetry of cholinergic deficits in Alzheimer's disease
G. S. Zubenko, J. Moossy, I. Hanin, A. J. Martinez, G. R. Rao and U. Kopp
Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic, Pittsburgh, PA 15213.
The specific activities of the cholinergic enzymes, choline
acetyltransferase and acetylcholinesterase, as well as the density of
muscarinic binding sites, were determined in five corresponding left and
right regions of 16 brains obtained at autopsy from patients with
histologically confirmed Alzheimer's disease. While a significant
proportion of the individual specimens exhibited left-right asymmetries in
cholinergic deficits, bilateral symmetry was the rule for frontal and
temporal cortex, basal nucleus, and the prosubiculum of the hippocampus. In
contrast to these four regions, left-right asymmetries in choline
acetyltransferase activity and muscarinic receptor density appeared to be
typical in the entorhinal cortex of the hippocampus.
