Non-mnestic cognitive function in the scopolamine model of Alzheimer's Disease

✍ Scribed by Marc C. Obonsawin; Anne Robertson; John R. Crawford; Chris Perera; Shona Walker; Louise Blackmore; Denis M. Parker; John A. O. Besson

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1998
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 150 KB
• Volume: 13
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0885-6222
• DOI: 10.1002/(sici)1099-1077(199808)13:6<439::aid-hup19>3.0.co;2-e

✦ Synopsis

The contribution of cholinergic dysfunction to the non-mnestic cognitive impairments associated with senile dementia of the Alzheimer type (SDAT) was investigated. Scopolamine (0 . 5 mg) was administered intravenously to 12 healthy individuals, and their performance on selected subtests of the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale Ð Revised (WAIS-R), and on additional non-mnestic neuropsychological tests were compared to that of 12 healthy control participants. The results demonstrate that scopolamine does impair performance on components of the WAIS-R, but that the Fuld WAIS-R pro®le does not have a cholinergic basis. Scopolamine did not impair performance on verbal ¯uency, the Token Test, Judgment of Line Orientation, ®nger tapping, the Modi®ed Card Sorting Test, or the Mini-Mental State Examination. The results do not support the hypothesis that the cholinergic system contributes to the non-mnestic impairments in SDAT.