Effects of cholinergic blockade on language in healthy young women: Implications for the cholinergic hypothesis in dementia of the Alzheimer type
Abstract
To investigate the effect of cholinergic blockade on language, 22 healthy young women performed tests of reading, spelling and oral language after a subcutaneous injection of 0.4 or 0.6 mg scopolamine. The results were compared with the performance after 0.6 mg methylscopolamine, which produce no central cholinergic effects. The reading and spelling tests were constructed to evaluate the lexical and phonological strategies for reading and spelling of single words. After scopolamine there were dose-dependent impairments in reading, spelling, verbal fluency and object naming. In 25-60% of the subjects receiving 0.6 mg scopolamine there were clinically significant impairments on tests assessing the lexical and phonological strategies. This pattern is similar to the deficits in reading and spelling observed in patients with dementia of the Alzheimer type. Cholinergic loss may be associated with the language impairments found in dementia of the Alzheimer type.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
The degree to which acute mAChR blockade models such dementias seems rather impressive.
“In light of these considerations, the degree to which acute mAChR blockade models such dementias seems rather impressive (see also Christensen et al, 1992; Aarsland et al, 1994; Broks et al, 1988).”
From Modes and models of forebrain cholinergic neuromodulation of cognition (2011) · cites this paper as Aarsland et al, 1994
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Modes and models of forebrain cholinergic neuromodulation of cognition
Hasselmo, M. E., & Sarter, M. (2011) · Neuropsychopharmacology · doi:10.1038/npp.2010.104 · Cited by 733 · see citing works
“In light of these considerations, the degree to which acute mAChR blockade models such dementias seems rather impressive (see also Christensen et al, 1992; Aarsland et al, 1994; Broks et al, 1988).”
BackgroundScopolamine model of dementia: electroencephalogram findings and cognitive performance
Ebert, & Kirch (1998) · European Journal of Clinical Investigation · doi:10.1046/j.1365-2362.1998.00393.x · Cited by 360 · see citing works
Ehrt, U., Broich, K., Larsen, J. O., Ballard, C. G., & Aarsland, D. (2009) · Journal of Neurology Neurosurgery & Psychiatry · doi:10.1136/jnnp.2009.186239 · Cited by 247 · see citing works
Self-citationNeurophysiological predictors of long term response to AChE inhibitors in AD patients
Lazzaro, V. D. (2005) · Journal of Neurology Neurosurgery & Psychiatry · doi:10.1136/jnnp.2004.051334 · Cited by 201 · see citing works
“We also found a correlation between the acute change in SAI produced by rivastigmine, and the change in phonological verbal fluency after 1 year of treatment. This finding is consistent with the results of a previous study that showed that cholinergic blockade in healthy subjects determines an impairment of verbal flu…”
ResultMethods of Estimating Premorbid Functioning
Franzen, M. D. (1997) · Archives of Clinical Neuropsychology · doi:10.1016/s0887-6177(97)00046-2 · Cited by 124 · see citing works
The Cognitive Psychopharmacology of Alzheimer's Disease: Focus on Cholinergic Systems
Lawrence, A. D., & Sahakian, B. J. (1998) · Neurochemical Research · doi:10.1023/a:1022419712453 · Cited by 105 · see citing works
“volunteers has been found to reproduce many of the deficits in memory, attention, visuospatial functions and language seen in DAT (25-28).”
BackgroundDrug Therapy of Post-Stroke Aphasia: A Review of Current Evidence
Berthier, M. L., Friedemann Pulvermüller, A., Dávila, G., Casares, N. G., & Gutiérrez, A. (2011) · Neuropsychology Review · doi:10.1007/s11065-011-9177-7 · Cited by 105 · see citing works
Choi, S. H., Jung, T.-M., Lee, J. E., Lee, S., Sohn, Y. H., & Lee, P. H. (2011) · Neurobiology of Aging · doi:10.1016/j.neurobiolaging.2010.11.015 · Cited by 83 · see citing works
Scopolamine but Not Lorazepam Modulates Face Repetition Priming A Psychopharmacological fMRI Study
Thiel, C. M. (2002) · Neuropsychopharmacology · doi:10.1016/s0893-133x(02)00316-0 · Cited by 66 · see citing works
“A prior study does suggest, however, that scopolamine can induce deficits in object naming (Aarsland et al. 1994).”
BackgroundBasu, R., Dodge, H. H., Stoehr, G. P., & Ganguli, M. (2003) · American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry · doi:10.1097/00019442-200303000-00011 · Cited by 69 · see citing works
Sarter, M. F., & Turchi, J. N. (2001) · Dementia and Geriatric Cognitive Disorders · doi:10.1159/000048633 · Cited by 61 · see citing works
Saxena, S., & Hillis, A. E. (2017) · Expert Review of Neurotherapeutics · doi:10.1080/14737175.2017.1373020 · Cited by 60 · see citing works
“This notion is supported in a study of healthy young women who were administered scopolamine, which blocks cholinergic activity [98].”
ResultEffects of increased cholinergic activity on naming in aphasia
Tanaka, Y., Miyazaki, M., & Albert, M. L. (1997) · The Lancet · doi:10.1016/s0140-6736(05)61820-x · Cited by 57 · see citing works
Donepezil: a clinical review of current and emerging indications
Román, G. C., & Rogers, S. (2004) · Expert Opinion on Pharmacotherapy · doi:10.1517/14656566.5.1.161 · Cited by 55 · see citing works
“Speech is frequently affected in AD and cholinergic blockage impairs object naming in healthy young women [207].”
BackgroundGalantamine administration in chronic post-stroke aphasia
Hong, J. M., Shin, D. H., Lim, T. S., Lee, J. S., & Huh, K. (2012) · Journal of Neurology Neurosurgery & Psychiatry · doi:10.1136/jnnp-2012-302268 · Cited by 55 · see citing works
Semantic activation in LSD: evidence from picture naming
Family, N., Vinson, D., Vigliocco, G., Kaelen, M., Bolstridge, M., Nutt, D., & Carhart-Harris, R. L. (2016) · Language Cognition and Neuroscience · doi:10.1080/23273798.2016.1217030 · Cited by 52 · see citing works
Physostigmine Reversal of Scopolamine-Induced Hypofrontality
Prohovnik, I., Arnold, S. E., Smith, G., & Lucas, L. (1997) · Journal of Cerebral Blood Flow & Metabolism · doi:10.1097/00004647-199702000-00012 · Cited by 45 · see citing works
Duka, T., Ott, H., Rohloff, A., & Voet, B. (1996) · Psychopharmacology · doi:10.1007/bf02246647 · Cited by 45 · see citing works
Cortical acetylcholine esterase activity and ApoE4-genotype in Alzheimer disease
Eggers, C., Herholz, K., Kalbe, E., et al. (2006) · Neuroscience Letters · doi:10.1016/j.neulet.2006.08.061 · Cited by 41 · see citing works
Antiparkinsonism anticholinergics increase dementia risk in patients with Parkinson's disease
Hong, C., Chan, L., Wu, D., Chen, W., & Chien, L. (2019) · Parkinsonism & Related Disorders · doi:10.1016/j.parkreldis.2019.06.022 · Cited by 40 · see citing works
Finkelstein, J. M., Heemels, M.-T., Shadan, S., & Weiss, U. K. (2014) · Nature · doi:10.1038/510047a · Cited by 40 · see citing works
The entropic tongue: Disorganization of natural language under LSD
Sanz, C., Pallavicini, C., Carrillo, F., Zamberlán, F., Sigman, M., Mota, N. B., Copelli, M., Ribeiro, S. T. G., Nutt, D., Carhart-Harris, R. L., et al. (2020) · Consciousness and Cognition · doi:10.1016/j.concog.2020.103070 · Cited by 34 · see citing works
Counts, S., Che, S., Ginsberg, S. D., & Mufson, E. J. (2011) · Journal of Chemical Neuroanatomy · doi:10.1016/j.jchemneu.2011.02.004 · Cited by 35 · see citing works
“Moreover, anticholinergic treatment of young women inhibited semantic memory and verbal fluency in a dose-dependent manner, suggesting cholinergic loss may be associated with the selective language impairments found in women with AD (Aarsland et al., 1994).”
Effect of long-term aluminum feeding on lipid/phospholipid profiles of rat brain myelin.
Pandya, J. D., Dave, K. R., & Katyare, S. S. (2004) · Lipids in Health and Disease · doi:10.1186/1476-511x-3-13 · Cited by 34 · see citing works
Ocular Cyclopentolate: A Mini Review Concerning Its Benefits and Risks
Contreras-Salinas, H., Orozco-Ceja, V., Romero-López, M. S., et al. (2022) · Clinical ophthalmology · doi:10.2147/opth.s388982 · Cited by 33 · see citing works
Neuropharmacology of Verbal Perseveration
McNamara, P., & Albert, M. L. (2004) · Seminars in Speech and Language · doi:10.1055/s-2004-837244 · Cited by 33 · see citing works
Teipel, S. J., Flatz, W. H., Ackl, N., Grothe, M. J., Kilimann, I., Bokde, A. L. W., Grinberg, L. T., Amaro, E., Kljajević, V., Alho, E. J. L., et al. (2013) · Psychiatry Research Neuroimaging · doi:10.1016/j.pscychresns.2013.10.003 · Cited by 30 · see citing works
“Injecting 0.4 to 0.6 mg of scopolamine disrupted cholinergic activity in healthy young women, leading to impairments in reading, writing, verbal fluency and object naming (Aarsland et al., 1994).”
InfluentialGreenwood, J. M., & Dragunow, M. (2002) · Journal of Neurochemistry · doi:10.1046/j.1471-4159.2002.00992.x · Cited by 27 · see citing works
Physostigmine pharmacotherapy for anomia
Jacobs, D. H., Shuren, J. E., Gold, M., et al. (1996) · Neurocase · doi:10.1080/13554799608404019 · Cited by 27 · see citing works
Atrophy and structural covariance of the cholinergic basal forebrain in primary progressive aphasia
Teipel, S. J., Raiser, T. M., Riedl, L., Riederer, I., Schroeter, M. L., Bisenius, S., Schneider, A., Kornhuber, J., Fließbach, K., Spottke, A. E., et al. (2016) · Cortex · doi:10.1016/j.cortex.2016.07.004 · Cited by 25 · see citing works
Voß, B., Thienel, R., Reske, M., et al. (2010) · European Archives of Psychiatry and Clinical Neuroscience · doi:10.1007/s00406-010-0160-8 · Cited by 20 · see citing works
Aging, Language, and Language Disorders
Nicholas, M. L., Connor, L. T., Obler, L. K., & Albert, M. L. (1998) · Elsevier eBooks · doi:10.1016/b978-012619322-0/50015-4 · Cited by 20 · see citing works
Verbal fluency facilitated by the cholinergic blocker, scopolamine
Pompéia, S., Rusted, J. M., & Curran, H. V. (2002) · Human Psychopharmacology Clinical and Experimental · doi:10.1002/hup.331 · Cited by 17 · see citing works
Muramori, K., Nagasaki, A., & Kawanami, T. (2007) · Journal of Ultrasound in Medicine · doi:10.7863/jum.2007.26.12.1681 · Cited by 16 · see citing works
Psycholinguistics of aphasia pharmacotherapy: Asking the right questions
Cahana-Amitay, D., Albert, M. L., & Oveis, A. C. (2013) · Aphasiology · doi:10.1080/02687038.2013.818099 · Cited by 16 · see citing works
New BRCA2 mutation in an Ashkenazi Jewish family with breast and ovarian cancer
Robson, M. E., & Offit, K. (1997) · The Lancet · doi:10.1016/s0140-6736(05)61821-1 · Cited by 16 · see citing works
Stockbridge, M. D. (2022) · Handbook of clinical neurology · doi:10.1016/b978-0-12-823384-9.00013-x · Cited by 17 · see citing works
Weckesser, M., Hufnagel, A., Ziemons, K., et al. (1997) · European Journal of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging · doi:10.1007/bf01254249 · Cited by 14 · see citing works
“It is known to play an important role in memory [ 1-4 ].”
BackgroundVoß, B., Thienel, R., Reske, M., Kellermann, T., Sheldrick, A. J., Halfter, S., Radenbach, K., Shah, N. J., Habel, U., & Kircher, T. T. J. (2011) · European Archives of Psychiatry and Clinical Neuroscience · doi:10.1007/s00406-011-0267-6 · Cited by 12 · see citing works
Turning the Spotlight to Cholinergic Pharmacotherapy of the Human Language System
Dávila, G., Torres‐Prioris, M. J., López-Barroso, D., & Berthier, M. L. (2023) · CNS Drugs · doi:10.1007/s40263-023-01017-4 · Cited by 10 · see citing works
“The relationship between cholinergic deficiency and impaired language functions is well established in healthy subjects treated with anticholinergic agents [103] and patients with AD [104–107].”
BackgroundPreković, S., Đurđević, D. F., Csifcsák, G., Šveljo, O., Stojković, O., Janković, M., Koprivšek, K., Covill, L., Lučić, M., den Broeck, T. V., et al. (2016) · Scientific Reports · doi:10.1038/srep20369 · Cited by 11 · see citing works
Tanaka, Y., & Bachman, D. (2005) · Kluwer Academic Publishers eBooks · doi:10.1007/0-306-46898-0_11 · Cited by 11 · see citing works
Mapping neuromodulatory systems in Parkinson’s disease: lessons learned beyond dopamine
Ye, Z. (2022) · Current Medicine · doi:10.1007/s44194-022-00015-w · Cited by 9 · see citing works
“But the cholinergic basis of semantic fluency needs further investigation, given conflicting findings in the literature (Aarsland et al. 1994; Pompéia et al. 2002; Thienel et al. 2009).”
ResultLlano, D. A., & Small, S. L. (2015) · Elsevier eBooks · doi:10.1016/b978-0-12-407794-2.00085-7 · Cited by 10 · see citing works
Berthier, M. L., Santana-Moreno, D., Beltrán‐Corbellini, Á., Criado, J. C., Edelkraut, L., López-Barroso, D., Dávila, G., & Torres‐Prioris, M. J. (2021) · Aphasiology · doi:10.1080/02687038.2021.1957082 · Cited by 7 · see citing works
Cholinergic Neurons in Nucleus Subputaminalis in Primary Progressive Aphasia
Hamodat, H., Fisk, J. D., & Darvesh, S. (2019) · Canadian Journal of Neurological Sciences / Journal Canadien des Sciences Neurologiques · doi:10.1017/cjn.2019.6 · Cited by 7 · see citing works
Bullain, S., Chriki, L. S., & Stern, T. A. (2007) · Psychosomatics · doi:10.1176/appi.psy.48.3.258 · Cited by 7 · see citing works
Pharmakologische Zusatzbehandlung in der Aphasietherapie
Korsukewitz, C., Breitenstein, C., Schomacher, M., & Knecht, S. (2005) · Der Nervenarzt · doi:10.1007/s00115-005-2006-6 · Cited by 5 · see citing works
“Ein weiterer Hintergrund für den Einsatz cholinerger Medikamente bei Sprachstörungen ist, dass eine Hemmung des cholinergen Systems auch bei Gesunden zu einer Störung der Wortflüssigkeit, des Benennens und Buchstabierens führen kann [85].”
BackgroundNon-mnestic cognitive function in the scopolamine model of Alzheimer's Disease
Obonsawin, M. C., Robertson, A. H. J., Crawford, J. R., Perera, C., Walker, S. A., Blackmore, L., PARKER, D. M., & BESSON, J. A. O. (1998) · Human Psychopharmacology Clinical and Experimental · doi:10.1002/(sici)1099-1077(199808)13:6 · Cited by 3 · see citing works
Toward a Neurochemistry of Naming and Anomia
Albert, M. L. (2000) · Elsevier eBooks · doi:10.1016/b978-012304260-6/50010-4 · Cited by 3 · see citing works
Pharmacotherapy to Improve the Acquired Aphasia following Brain Damages: A Review Study
Ramezani, S., تهران, Reihanian, Z., گیلان, Yousefzadeh-Chabok, S., گیلان, Sarraf-Razavi, M., & گیلان (2015) · Iranian Journal of Neurosurgery · doi:10.18869/acadpub.irjns.1.2.10 · Cited by 2 · see citing works
“Since anticholinergic mediators such as scopolamine selectively distorts the function of 25-60% of healthy subjects in tasks including naming objects, verbal fluency, reading and writing, possibly cholinergic systems play an important role in phonological and verbal processes (55).”
BackgroundCapizzi, A. N., Woo, J. E., & Magat, E. (2022) · The Journal of the International Society of Physical and Rehabilitation Medicine · doi:10.4103/jisprm.jisprm-000151 · Cited by 1 · see citing works
Hörtnagl, H., Groll-Knapp, E., Khanakah, G., Sperk, G., & Bubna‐Littitz, H. (1998) · International Journal of Developmental Neuroscience · doi:10.1016/s0736-5748(98)00083-5 · Cited by 1 · see citing works
Omega‐3 fatty acid supplementation in schizophrenic patients
Mellor, J. E., Laugharne, J. D. E., & Peet, M. (1996) · Human Psychopharmacology Clinical and Experimental · doi:10.1002/(sici)1099-1077(199601)11:1 · Cited by 67 · see citing works
Pharmacological Interventions to Enhance Stroke Recovery
Flanagan, S. R., & Fusco, H. N. (2018) · Elsevier eBooks · doi:10.1016/b978-0-323-55381-0.00013-5
Hellweg, R. (2000) · Monographien aus dem Gesamtgebiete der Psychiatrie · doi:10.1007/978-3-642-96006-2_17
- Authors
- Aarsland, D., Larsen, J. P., Reinvang, I., & Aasland, A. M.
- Affiliations
- Oslo University Hospital (NO)
- Stavanger University Hospital (NO)
- Corresponding author
- Aarsland, D.
- ORCID
- Aarsland, D.
- Venue
- Brain
- Publisher
- Oxford University Press (OUP)
- Published
- 1994
- Volume
- 117
- Issue
- 6
- Pages
- 1377-1384
- ISSN
- 0006-8950 (ISSN-L)
- 1460-2156
- OpenAlex
- W2277349765
- Cited by
- 56
- References
- 0
- Citations by year
- 2023: 1 · 2022: 4 · 2021: 1 · 2020: 1 · 2019: 2 · 2018: 1 · 2017: 1 · 2016: 3 · 2015: 2 · 2014: 1 · 2013: 2 · 2012: 1
- FWCI
- 1.72
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Brain (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Neurobiology of Language and Bilingualism
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Psychiatry and Mental health › Dementia and Cognitive Impairment Research
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Reading and Literacy Development
- Keywords
- cholinergic blockade, scopolamine, methylscopolamine, language, reading, spelling, verbal fluency, object naming, lexical strategies, phonological strategies, Alzheimer's disease
- MeSH terms
- Acetylcholine, Adult, Alzheimer Disease, Female, Humans, Language Disorders, Language Tests, Scopolamine, Cholinergic Antagonists
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
