EFFECTS OF CHOLINERGIC BLOCKADE ON LANGUAGE IN HEALTHY-YOUNG WOMEN - IMPLICATIONS FOR THE CHOLINERGIC HYPOTHESIS IN DEMENTIA OF THE ALZHEIMER-TYPE

To investigate the effect of cholinergic blockade on language, 22 heal thy young women performed tests of reading, spelling and oral language after a subcutaneous injection of 0.4 or 0.6 mg scopolamine. The resu lts were compared with the performance after 0.6 mg methylscopolamine, which produce no central cholinergic effects. The reading and spellin g tests were constructed to evaluate the lexical and phonological stra tegies for reading and spelling of single words. After scopolamine the re were dose-dependent impairments in reading, spelling, verbal fluenc y and object naming. In 25-60% of the subjects receiving 0.6 mg scopol amine there were clinically significant impairments on tests assessing the lexical and phonological strategies. This pattern is similar to t he deficits in reading and spelling observed in patients with dementia of the Alzheimer type. Cholinergic loss may be associated with the la nguage impairments found in dementia of the Alzheimer type.