Cholinergic Drugs in Pharmacotherapy of Alzheimers Disease

Title: Cholinergic Drugs in Pharmacotherapy of Alzheimers Disease

Volume: 2 Issue: 1

Author(s): Pelayo Camps and Diego Munoz-Torrero

Affiliation:

Keywords: Cholinergic Drugs, Alzheimers disease, muscarinic agonists, acetylcholine (ACh), Potassium Channel Blockers, Aminoacridines, N-Benzylpiperidines, xanomeline, muscarine

Abstract: The cholinergic hypothesis of Alzheimers disease has spurred the development of numerous structural classes of compounds with different pharmacological profiles aimed at increasing central cholinergic neurotransmission, thus providing a symptomatic treatment for this disease. Indeed, the only drugs currently approved for the treatment of Alzheimers disease are cholinomimetics with the pharmacological profile of acetylcholinesterase inhibitors. Recent evidence of a potential disease modifying role of acetylcholinesterase inhibitors and M1 muscarinic agonists have led to a revival of this approach, which might be considered as more than a symptomatic treatment.

Cite this article as:

Camps Pelayo and Munoz-Torrero Diego, Cholinergic Drugs in Pharmacotherapy of Alzheimers Disease, Mini-Reviews in Medicinal Chemistry 2002; 2 (1) . https://dx.doi.org/10.2174/1389557023406638