Neuronal mechanisms mediating drug-induced cognition enhancement: cognitive activity as a necessary intervening variable

Sarter, Martin; Bruno, John P.; Givens, Bennet; Moore, Holly; McGaughy, Jill; McMahon, Kathleèn

doi:10.1016/0926-6410(96)00018-3

Cited by 55 publications

(27 citation statements)

References 111 publications

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“…The fact that these effects were evident with target stimuli adds support to infrahuman research on cholinergic modulation of visual cortical circuitry which has shown acetylcholine to enhance responsivity and selectivity to optimal visual stimuli [23,24]. On a more general level, these preliminary findings of nicotine-induced visual P300 amplitude increments in DAT, which are suggestive of attentional improvement, parallel the recent shift in the cognitive psychopharmacology of DAT that has witnessed a focus on the role of attentional functions in mediating mnemonic deficits [25] and their modulation by pharmacologic treatments [26].…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 57%

Effects of Acute Nicotine Administration on Cognitive Event-Related Potentials in Tacrine-Treated and Non-Treated Patients with Alzheimer’s Disease

Knott¹,

Mahoney²,

Engeland³

et al. 2002

Neuropsychobiology

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Earlier studies of cognitive event-related brain potentials (ERPs) reporting diminished amplitudes and delayed latencies of the P300 potential in dementia of the Alzheimer type (DAT), together with independent findings of the P300- and performance-enhancing properties of nicotine in normal adults, stimulated this study to explore the single-dose effects of nicotine on auditory and visual P300s in DAT. Thirteen patients, 6 currently receiving treatment with the cholinesterase inhibitor tacrine (tetrahydroaminoacridine; THA) and the remaining being medication free, were administered 2 mg of nicotine polacrilex under double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled conditions. Prior to nicotine administration, THA-treated patients exhibited shorter auditory P300 latencies than non-treated patients. Acutely administered nicotine failed to alter auditory P300, but increased the amplitudes of visual P300s in both DAT patient groups. Neither THA treatment nor single-dose nicotine altered behavioural performance in the visual and auditory task paradigms. The results are discussed in relation to nicotinic cholinergic, attentional and cognitive processes in DAT.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 57%

Effects of Acute Nicotine Administration on Cognitive Event-Related Potentials in Tacrine-Treated and Non-Treated Patients with Alzheimer’s Disease

Knott¹,

Mahoney²,

Engeland³

et al. 2002

Neuropsychobiology

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“…The present findings might equally well be described in other terms, for example, that release of ACh provides a measure of selective attention, arousal, or modulation of memory across hippocampus and amygdala processing of information. Other findings point to involvement of forebrain cholinergic projections to neocortex in particular, but also to hippocampus, in arousal and attentional mechanisms, as well as in learning and memory mechanisms (Hasselmo, 1995;Acquas et al, 1996;Sarter et al, 1996;Dalley et al, 2001).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Competition between Memory Systems: Acetylcholine Release in the Hippocampus Correlates Negatively with Good Performance on an Amygdala-Dependent Task

et al. 2002

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Lesions of the amygdala impair acquisition of a food conditioned place preference (CPP) task. In contrast, lesions of the fornix facilitate acquisition on this task, showing that an intact hippocampal system can interfere with learning an amygdaladependent task. Our recent findings indicate that acetylcholine (ACh) release in the hippocampus increases while rats perform a hippocampus-dependent spontaneous alternation task. To the extent that ACh output in the hippocampus reflects activation of that brain area in learning and memory, the results obtained with fornix lesions suggest that ACh release in the hippocampus might be negatively correlated with learning on a CPP task. Using in vivo microdialysis, release of ACh was measured in the hippocampus while rats learned and were tested on an amygdala-dependent CPP task and a hippocampus-dependent spontaneous alternation task. Release of ACh in the hippocampus increased when rats were tested on either task. The magnitude of the increase in release of hippocampal ACh was negatively correlated with good performance on the amygdala-dependent CPP task. These findings suggest that ACh release may reflect activation and participation of the hippocampus in learning and memory, but in a manner that can be detrimental to performance on a task dependent on another brain area.

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“…Furthermore, the available evidence indicates that the loss of basal forebrain cholinergic projections to the cortex, as opposed to subcortical limbic areas, suffices to reproduce the attentional impairments resulting from the more comprehensive lesions of the basal forebrain [114]. Increases in the demands on sustained attentional abilities in intact animals are associated with increases in cortical ACh efflux that are not due to secondary, non-attentional aspects of performance [115,116]. Finally, the attentional functions of cortical cholinergic inputs extend to the processing of contextual information of affective experiences [117], and the long-term consequences of aberrations in the afferent regulation of cortical cholinergic inputs contribute to the manifestation of clinically diverse neurocognitive disorders [118].…”

Section: Cortical Cholinergic Inputs Mediate Divided Attention Performentioning

confidence: 99%

Age- and Dementia-Associated Impairments in Divided Attention: Psychological Constructs, Animal Models, and Underlying Neuronal Mechanisms

Sarter

Turchi

2001

Dement Geriatr Cogn Disord

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Following a brief description of the psychological construct ‘divided attention’, impairments in divided attention and related executive functions are discussed as the major variable in the development and manifestation of age- and dementia-associated cognitive impairments. Neuropsychological and functional imaging studies in humans have indicated that dorsolateral and ventrolateral prefrontal, cingulate, parietal and premotor cortical areas are involved in the mediation of dual task performance. Furthermore, reduced activity in these areas has been suggested to mediate age- and dementia-associated impairments in divided attention. Experimental studies in animals have provided strong support for the hypothesis that cholinergic projections terminating in all cortical areas and layers crucially mediate the performance in tasks that tax processing capacity and/or the allocation of processing resources to competing demands. This specification of the ‘cholinergic hypothesis’ is evaluated in light of recent critical accounts of the role of this system in the development of age- and dementia- related cognitive disorders. The converging animal experimental and human neuropathological, as well as neuropsychological, evidence indicates that decreases in the integrity of cortical cholinergic inputs represent a necessary, possibly even sufficient, neuronal process mediating the impairments in divided attention and the resulting, broad decline in cognitive functions.

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Neuronal mechanisms mediating drug-induced cognition enhancement: cognitive activity as a necessary intervening variable

Cited by 55 publications

References 111 publications

Effects of Acute Nicotine Administration on Cognitive Event-Related Potentials in Tacrine-Treated and Non-Treated Patients with Alzheimer’s Disease

Effects of Acute Nicotine Administration on Cognitive Event-Related Potentials in Tacrine-Treated and Non-Treated Patients with Alzheimer’s Disease

Competition between Memory Systems: Acetylcholine Release in the Hippocampus Correlates Negatively with Good Performance on an Amygdala-Dependent Task

Age- and Dementia-Associated Impairments in Divided Attention: Psychological Constructs, Animal Models, and Underlying Neuronal Mechanisms

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