ABSTRACT
Until recently there has been little interest in the development of cholinomimetic agents and consequently no need for specific routine assays. Growing awareness of the incidence of senile dementia and evidence that Alzheimer’s disease is one of primary cholinergic hypofunction has brought about a surge in cholinergic research oriented toward the development of effective drug treatment. The role of cholinergic systems in memory and cognitive function 498is well established (Deutsch, 1971; Drachman, 1981; Bartus et al., 1982), and memory deficits have been correlated with the extent of pathology and the loss of cholinergic markers in Alzheimer’s disease (Davies and Maloney, 1976; Bowen et al., 1976; Whitehouse et al., 1982). Similarities of scopolamine-induced dementia to the symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease suggest that the muscarinic receptor is functionally relevant to cognition and memory.
