BACKGROUND/AIMS The purpose of this systematic review was to compare the safety and tolerability of the cholinesterase inhibitors (ChEIs) donepezil, rivastigmine and galantamine for treating mild to moderate Alzheimer's disease (AD) patients in routine clinical practice. METHODS Electronic databases (Cochrane Library, Medline, EMBASE; accessed October 2008) and manual bibliographic searches w...

CONTEXT Cognitive impairment in late-life depression is a core feature of the illness. OBJECTIVE To test whether donepezil hydrochloride and antidepressant therapy is superior to placebo and antidepressant therapy in improving cognitive performance and instrumental activities of daily living and in reducing recurrences of depression over 2 years of maintenance treatment. DESIGN Randomized, ...

Donepezil is the leading compound for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease (AD) in more than 50 countries. As compared with other conventional acetylcholinesterase inhibitors (AChEIs), donepezil is a highly selective and reversible piperidine derivative with AChEI activity that exhibits the best pharmacological profile in terms of cognitive improvement, responders rate (40%-58%), dropout cases ...

Parkinson's disease is associated with early parasympathetic dysfunction leading to constipation and gastroparesis. It has been suggested that pathological α-synuclein aggregations originate in the gut and ascend to the brainstem via the vagus. Our understanding of the pathogenesis and time course of parasympathetic denervation in Parkinson's disease is limited and would benefit from a validate...

Parkinson’s disease is associated with early parasympathetic dysfunction leading to constipation and gastroparesis. It has been suggested that pathological a-synuclein aggregations originate in the gut and ascend to the brainstem via the vagus. Our understanding of the pathogenesis and time course of parasympathetic denervation in Parkinson’s disease is limited and would benefit from a validate...

BACKGROUND Evoking spinal release of acetylcholine (ACh) produces antinociception in normal animals and reduces hypersensitivity after nerve injury, and some studies suggest that ACh-mediated analgesia relies on γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA)-ergic signaling in the spinal cord. In this study, the authors tested the spinal mechanisms underlying the antihypersensitivity effects of donepezil, a centra...

OBJECTIVE Because cholinergic deficits are prominent in dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB), we investigated the effects of a cholinesterase inhibitor, donepezil, in such patients in a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled exploratory phase 2 trial. METHODS One-hundred forty patients with DLB, recruited from 48 specialty centers in Japan, were randomly assigned to receive placebo or 3, 5, ...

A woman consulted psychiatric Out-Patient Department (OPD) for her 5-year and 2-month-old son presenting with typical autistic symptoms like social, behavioural, and communicational ineptitudeness. Subsequent treatment with Donepezil resulted in marked improvement in the aforementioned symptomatology. Recent studies in autistic child have shown diminished acetylcholine and nicotinic receptor ac...

Abstract The Cholinergic Anti-inflammatory Pathway (CAP) is a neurophysiological mechanism that regulates the immune system. Studies show CAP inhibits inflammation by suppressing cytokine synthesis via release of acetylcholine in heart, lungs and gastrointestinal tract. Upon release, interacts with α7 nicotinic receptors (α7nAChR), down-regulate pro-inflammatory prevent tissue damage inflammati...