DEPLETION OF CHOLINE-ACETYLTRANSFERASE ACTIVITY BUT PRESERVATION OF M1 AND M2 MUSCARINIC RECEPTOR-BINDING SITES IN TEMPORAL CORTEX FOLLOWING HEAD-INJURY - A PRELIMINARY HUMAN POSTMORTEM STUDY
D. Dewar et Di. Graham, DEPLETION OF CHOLINE-ACETYLTRANSFERASE ACTIVITY BUT PRESERVATION OF M1 AND M2 MUSCARINIC RECEPTOR-BINDING SITES IN TEMPORAL CORTEX FOLLOWING HEAD-INJURY - A PRELIMINARY HUMAN POSTMORTEM STUDY, Journal of neurotrauma, 13(4), 1996, pp. 181-187
Abnormalities of cholinergic neurotransmission have been implicated in
the memory deficits that result from head injury on the basis of resu
lts obtained from experimental animal models and cholinergic agonist t
reatment in head-injured survivors. The purpose of the present study w
as to make a preliminary investigation of pre- and postsynaptic marker
s of cholinergic transmission in human postmortem brain from patients
who died as a result of head injury and age matched controls. Choline
acetyltransferase activity, M1 and M2 receptor binding sites were assa
yed in the inferior temporal gyrus from 7 head-injured patients and 7
controls. The-mean value of cholineacetyltransferase activity was redu
ced by approximately 50% in the head-injured group compared to the con
trol, although in 2 head-injured cases enzyme activity was similar to
that of controls, In contrast to the reduction in choline acetyltransf
erase activity, there was no difference between the head-injured and c
ontrol groups in the levels of either M1 or M2 receptor binding, These
preliminary results indicate that there is a significant presynaptic
abnormality of cholinergic neurotransmission in postmortem human brain
following head injury but that muscarinic receptor binding sites are
unaltered.