Cholinergic substrates of cognition and organism-environment interaction

• Published in: Progress in Neuropsychopharmacology & Biological Psychiatry Vol. 19; no. 2; pp. 187 - 211
• Main Author: Karczmar, Alexander G.
• Format: Book Review Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Amsterdam Elsevier Inc 01.03.1995; Elsevier
• Subjects: acetylcholine; acetylcholinesterase; Adult and adolescent clinical studies; anticholinesterases; atropine; Biological and medical sciences; choline acetyltransferase; cholinergic agonists; cholinergic antagonists; cognition; electroencephalograph; learning; Medical sciences; memory; muscarinic agonists; nerve growth factor; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychopathology. Psychiatry; Psychoses; rapid eye movement sleep; Schizophrenia; senile dementia of Alzheimer type; trophic factors; electroencephalograph; senile dementia of Alzheimer type; trophic factors; memory; cognition; cholinergic agonists; acetylcholinesterase; anticholinesterases; learning; Antiacetylcholinesterases; cholinergic alert non-mobile behavior; schizophrenia; muscarinic agonists; choline acetyltransferase; nerve growth factor; cholinergic antagonists; acetylcholine; atropine; rapid eye movement sleep; Human; Pathophysiology; Memory; Electrophysiology; Schizophrenia; Cognition; Electroencephalography; Review; Schizoidism; Psychosis; Acquisition process; Animal; Neuromediator; Acetylcholine
• ISSN: 0278-5846; 1878-4216
• DOI: 10.1016/0278-5846(95)00001-C

1. 1. Several lines of evidence support the notion of cholinergicity of cognition and organism-environment interaction: a) Certain central pathways which were amply demonstrated as cholinergic in nature were also shown as significant for cognition and related processes; this is indicated by lesion experiments in animals and related evidence collected in man which includes that obtained in SDAT. b) Cholinergic agonists evoke a specific EEG alerting and hippocampal theta patterns that were shown to be the EEG counterparts of learning. c) The REM sleep reflects significant cholinergic correlates, and this phenomenology relates to the EEG components of cognition. d) Cholinergic agonists facilitate and cholinergic antagonists disrupt animal learning; in fact, beneficial effects were obtained with cholinergic agonists in animal models specifically designed to reflect impaired animal-environment interaction. e) Trophic factors restore cognition in lesioned animals and may exhibit similar action in human subjects suffering from cholinergic deficit. 2. 2. While many of these effects show that the cholinergic phenomena underlie cognitive facilitation and specific alerting, certain depressive symptoms are evoked in man and animals by muscarinic agonists. 3. 3. Altogether, it is speculated that, overall the central cholinergic function in awaken man and animals represents a cholinergic syndrome which relates to REM sleep and which exhibits a number of characteristic EEG, functional and behavioral phenomena. This syndrome is referred to as CANMB and its normal function underlies appropriate animal-organism interaction.