Long-Term Response to Cholinesterase Inhibitor Treatment Is Related to Functional MRI Response in Alzheimer's Disease.

Background: Treatment of Alzheimer's disease (AD) with cholinesterase inhibitors (ChEI) enhances cholinergic activity and alleviates clinical symptoms. However, there is variation in the clinical response as well as system level changes revealed by functional MRI (fMRI) studies.

Methods: We investigated 18 newly diagnosed mild AD patients with fMRI using a face recognition task after a single oral dose of rivastigmine, a single dose of placebo and 1-month treatment with rivastigmine.

Structure and function of medial temporal and posteromedial cortices in early Alzheimer's disease.

Medial temporal lobe (MTL) atrophy and posteromedial cortical hypometabolism are consistent imaging findings in Alzheimer's disease (AD). As the MTL memory structures are affected early in the course of AD by neurofibrillary tangle pathology, the posteromedial metabolic abnormalities have been postulated to represent remote effects of MTL alterations. In this study, we investigated with functional MRI (fMRI) the structure-function relationship between the MTL and posteromedial regions, including the retrosplenial, posterior cingulate and precuneal cortices, in 21 older controls (OCs), 18 subjects with amnestic mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and 16 AD patients during a word list learning task.

Effect of cholinergic stimulation in early Alzheimer's disease - functional imaging during a recognition memory task.

Treatment of Alzheimer's disease (AD) with acetylcholinesterase inhibitors (AChEI) enhances cholinergic activity and alleviates clinical symptoms. In the present functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study, we investigated the effect of the AChEI rivastigmine on cognitive function and brain activation patterns during a face recognition memory task. Twenty patients with newly-diagnosed mild AD were administered a single oral dose of placebo, a single dose of rivastigmine (acute), and twice-daily treatment with rivastigmine for 4 weeks (chronic).