Oral physostigmine treatment of patients with Alzheimer's disease
- 1 January 1985
- journal article
- research article
- Published by American Psychiatric Association Publishing in American Journal of Psychiatry
- Vol. 142 (1), 28-33
- https://doi.org/10.1176/ajp.142.1.28
Abstract
Twelve patients with Alzheimer''s disease received 0.0, 0.5, 1.0, 1.5 and 2.0 mg of oral physostigmine every 2 h for 3-5 days; symptoms after each dose were assessed with the Alzheimer''s Disease Assessment Scale. Placebo and the dose associated with the least severe symptoms were then readministered for 3-5 days each. Of the 10 patients who completed the study, 3 showed clinically who completed the study, 3 showed clinically significant improvement on the highest physostigmine dose in both phases, 4 more were marginally improved in both phases and 3 had inconsistent responses to physostigmine. Cortisol measures obtained during a sleep study suggest that patients whose symptoms improved on physostigmine were those in whom oral physostigmine enhanced central cholinergic activity.This publication has 45 references indexed in Scilit:
- Reduced somatostatin-like immunoreactivity in cerebral cortex from cases of Alzheimer disease and Alzheimer senile dementaNature, 1980
- GLUCOSE METABOLISM AND ACETYLCHOLINE SYNTHESIS IN RELATION TO NEURONAL ACTIVITY IN ALZHEIMER'S DISEASEThe Lancet, 1980
- CHOLINERGIC MECHANISMS AND ANTERIOR-PITUITARY HORMONE-SECRETION1980
- Choline chloride treatment of memory deficits in the elderlyAmerican Journal of Psychiatry, 1979
- Evidence for a cholinergic projection to neocortex from neurons in basal forebrain.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 1979
- Physostigmine: Improvement of Long-Term Memory Processes in Normal HumansScience, 1978
- Neurotransmitter enzyme abnormalities in senile dementiaJournal of the Neurological Sciences, 1977
- Physostigmine: Effects on cognition and affect in normal subjectsPsychopharmacology, 1976
- Circadian Pattern of Plasma 17-Hydroxycorticosteroid: Alteration by Anticholinergic AgentsScience, 1967
- ALZHEIMERʼS DISEASEJournal of Nervous & Mental Disease, 1962