Perry R H, Candy J M, Perry E K, Irving D, Blessed G, Fairbairn A F, Tomlinson B E
Neurosci Lett. 1982 Dec 13;33(3):311-5. doi: 10.1016/0304-3940(82)90391-3.
Choline acetyltransferase activity in discrete tissue punches from the nucleus of Meynert and in tissue from the temporal cortex was reduced by at least 90% and 75%, respectively, in 5 out of 6 elderly cases of Alzheimer's disease compared with 5 normal cases. In contrast, estimates of neurone density in these same cases revealed that there was only, on average, a 33% neurone loss in the nucleus of Meynert in Alzheimer's disease. These observations suggest that a key pathological change in Alzheimer's disease may be the 'down regulation' of transmitter-specific enzyme production in cholinergic neurones, and that neurone loss itself may be a secondary feature of the disease.
与5例正常病例相比，在6例老年阿尔茨海默病患者中，有5例来自迈内特核的离散组织切片以及颞叶皮质组织中的胆碱乙酰转移酶活性分别降低了至少90%和75%。相比之下，对这些相同病例的神经元密度估计显示，在阿尔茨海默病中，迈内特核平均仅有33%的神经元丢失。这些观察结果表明，阿尔茨海默病的一个关键病理变化可能是胆碱能神经元中递质特异性酶产生的“下调”，并且神经元丢失本身可能是该疾病的一个次要特征。
