Treatment of Alzheimer's Disease: A Cautionary Note

Abstract

To the Editor: Now that there is direct evidence of a reduction in acetylcholine synthesis in Alzheimer's disease^{1 , 2} as well as a clinical response to an acetylcholine precursor in some patients,³ it can be anticipated that the clinical testing of appropriate agonists will be intensified. However, a word of caution on such studies may be called for.We examined cerebral-biopsy and cerebrospinal-fluid (CSF) samples from seven patients 43 to 66 years old with progressive dementia. Histologic evidence of Alzheimer's disease was evident in all but the two youngest patients (men 43 and 50 years old), in whom there was also . . .