View clinical trials related to Acetylcholine.
Filter by:Lewy Body Dementia (DLB) is the second most common type of neurodegenerative dementia and characterized by loss of cholinergic neurons in the cerebrum and possibly also internal organs. A novel tracer, 18F-fluoroethoxybenzovesamicol (18F-FEOBV), binds to the cholinergic vesicle transporter, a protein expressed uniquely in the vesicles of cholinergic pre-synapses. Our aim is to investigate the cholinergic denervation in patients with DLB using 18F-FEOBV. The investigators plan to recruit 30 patients with DLB and 20 healthy controls to extensive cognitive assessment, computed and positron emission topography, magnetic resonance imaging, and samples of blood. The investigators hypothesize that patients with DLB, compared to controls, have decreased cholinergic innervation in cortical and subcortical areas of the brain, intestines and heart, and that the denervation corresponds to symptoms of autonomic and cognitive dysfunction.
Parkinson´s disease is based on a Lewy body degeneration of cerebral and extracerebral neurons. This Lewy body degeneration includes cerebral cholinergic neurons besides dopaminergic neurons. In previous studies the investigators found that some clinical parkinsonian symptoms - primarily hypokinesia and rigidity - significantly correlate with the dopaminergic nigrostriatal degeneration which was quantified by dopamine transporter imaging. In contrast to that, resting or postural parkinsonian tremor does not correlate with the dopaminergic nigrostriatal degeneration. Obviously further cerebral changes - for instance possible changes / degeneration of cerebral cholinergic neurons - contribute to parkinsonian tremor. In this study the investigators apply cerebral 5-IA-85380-SPECT to quantify the local density of cerebral nicotinergic cholinergic receptors in patients with Parkinson´s disease. The investigators will correlate the results of cerebral 5-IA-85380-SPECT with the clinical parkinsonian main symptoms hypokinesia, rigidity and primarily resting and postural tremor. In particular, it is of interest whether changes of cerebral cholinergic neurons are involved in the generation of parkinsonian tremor.
Drugs with anticholinergic potential increase the risk of postoperative transient and persistent cognitive dysfunction especially in cardiac patients. The investigators main goal is to identify preoperative risk factors and to monitor postoperative patients' state in relation to SAA activity and bilateral BIS-EEG changes.