ABSTRACT
Considering drugs or other exogenous substances as challenge agents is quite common in medical practice, but this strategy is relatively new to biologic psychiatry research in general, and Alzheimer’s research in particular. The scopolamine memory impairment model is much less tested in humans as a screening ground for new agents. Up until now, the focus has usually been whether or not pro-cholinergic agents can, as would be expected, block the anticholinergic effects of scopolamine. This chapter focuses primarily on the scopolamine challenge, but it is by no means the only approach to pharmacologic modelling in Alzheimer’s disease. It continues to expand our understanding of Alzheimer’s disease beyond the previously narrow focus on the cholinergic system. The lack of an adequate animal model in Alzheimer’s disease research makes it important that we develop human models of reversible memory impairment.
