McGeer P L, McGeer E G, Suzuki J, Dolman C E, Nagai T
Neurology. 1984 Jun;34(6):741-5. doi: 10.1212/wnl.34.6.741.
All giant neurons of the medial basal forebrain stained for choline acetyltransferase (ChAT). Cell numbers declined from 400,000 to 475,000 in young controls to approximately 140,000 in elderly controls. Five senile dementia cases had counts ranging from 45,000 to 100,000 cells. ChAT levels in control frontal cortex decreased from 1.2 mumol/hr/100 mg protein at age 40 to 0.5 at age 95. Five senile dementia cases had levels ranging from 0.04 to 0.30. When the cholinergic cell count in the basal forebrain drops below about 100,000 cells, the level of cortical ChAT may be so low that clinical dementia appears.
内侧基底前脑的所有大神经元均用胆碱乙酰转移酶（ChAT）进行了染色。年轻对照组中ChAT阳性细胞数量从40万至47.5万减少至老年对照组中的约14万。5例老年性痴呆病例的细胞计数在4.5万至10万之间。对照组额叶皮质中的ChAT水平从40岁时的1.2 μmol/小时/100毫克蛋白质降至95岁时的0.5。5例老年性痴呆病例的水平在0.04至0.30之间。当基底前脑胆碱能细胞计数降至约10万以下时，皮质ChAT水平可能会低至出现临床痴呆的程度。
