The cholinergic system plays an essential role in brain development, physiology, and pathophysiology. Herein, we review how specific alterations this system, through genetic mutations or abnormal receptor function, can lead to aberrant neural circuitry that triggers disease. focuses on the nicotinic acetylcholine (nAChR) its addiction neurodegenerative neuropsychiatric diseases epilepsy. Cholin...

schizophrenia is a severe psychiatric illness with a lifetime prevalence of ˜1% that imposes a huge toll on patients, their families and public health services worldwide. delusions, hallucinations, disorganized speech, grossly disorganized or catatonic behavior and negative symptoms constitute the core symptoms of schizophrenia. although the neurotransmitter dopamine plays a prominent role in t...

Anti-cholinergic agents are used in the treatment of several pathological conditions. Therapy regimens aimed at up-regulating cholinergic functions, such as treatment with acetylcholinesterase inhibitors, are also currently prescribed. It is now known that not only is there a neuronal cholinergic system but also a non-neuronal cholinergic system in various parts of the body. Therefore, interfer...

Background & Aims: In the recent years, increasing rate of using electronic devices which generate electromagnetic fields , has caused researchers, attention to the effects of electromagnetic fields on human health. The aim of this study is to investigate the effect of prolonged exposure to extremely low frequency electromagnetic fields(ELF) on the Cholinergic system in the small intestine of r...

In addition to being a key component of the autonomic nervous system, acetylcholine acts as a prominent neurotransmitter and neuromodulator upon release from key groups of cholinergic projection neurons and interneurons distributed across the central nervous system. It has been more than forty years since it was discovered that cholinergic transmission profoundly modifies the perception of pain...

The distributed organization of the human visual cortex calls for a mechanism that integrates and binds the features of a perceived event, and neural synchronization is a prime candidate to serve that purpose. Animal studies suggest that synchronization in the visual cortex is enhanced by the muscarinic cholinergic system. Here we show that in healthy humans the binding of shape and colour, and...

Previous experiments implicate cholinergic brainstem and spinal systems in the control of locomotion. Our results demonstrate that the endogenous cholinergic propriospinal system, acting via M2 and M3 muscarinic receptors, is capable of consistently producing well-coordinated locomotor activity in the in vitro neonatal preparation, placing it in a position to contribute to normal locomotion and...

melissa officinalis l. (labiatae) traditionally used in treating neurological disorders has also been identified as a memory-enhancing herb. the extract of m. officinalis has a cholinergic property. the role of basal forebrain cholinergic neurons, the neurons that are destroyed in alzheimer’s disease (ad), in learning and memory, is also well known. the aim of this study is to investigate the r...

introduction: nitric oxide is an important endogenous compound that acts as bronchodilator in trachea. electromagnetic fields (emf) affect nitric oxide level in different tissues. the interaction of nitrergic and cholinergic systems in airways has been reported. therefore, the present study was performed to evaluate the interaction of cholinergic and nitrergic systems in the trachea of rats tha...

Ontogenetic abnormalities in the regulation of the cortical cholinergic input system are hypothesized to mediate early-life cognitive limitations (ECL) that later escalate, based on reciprocal interactions between a dysregulated cholinergic system and age-related neuronal and vascular processes, to mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and, subsequently, for a majority of subjects, senile dementia. T...