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Cholinergic stimulation alters performance and task-specific regional cerebral blood flow during working memory
Furey ML, Pietrini P, Haxby JV, Alexander GE, Lee HC, VanMeter J, Grady CL, Shetty U et al.. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 1997-06-01
Topic: Brain proteins, microglia and lab models
Plain-language summary
Modulation of the cholinergic neurotransmitter system results in changes in memory performance, including working memory (WM), in animals and in patients with Alzheimer disease. To identify associated changes in the functional brain response, we studied performance measures and regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) using positron emission tomography (PET) in healthy subjects during performance of a WM task. Eight control subjects received an infusion of saline throughout the study and 13 experimental subjects received a saline infusion for the first 2 scans followed by a continuous infusion of physostigmine, an acetylcholinesterase inhibitor, for the subsequent 8 scans. rCBF was measured using H215O and PET in a sequence of 10 PET scans that alternated between rest and task scans. During task scans, subjects performed the WM task for faces. Physostigmine both improved WM efficiency, as indicated by faster reaction times, and reduced WM task-related activity in anterior and posterior regions of right midfrontal gyrus, a region shown previously to be associated with WM. Furthermore, the magnitudes of physostigmine-induced change in reaction time and right midfrontal rCBF correlated. These results suggest that enhancement of cholinergic function can improve processing efficiency and thus reduce the effort required to perform a WM task, and that activation of right prefrontal cortex is associated with task effort.
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APA 7th
Furey, M. L., Pietrini, P., Haxby, J. V., Alexander, G. E., Lee, H. C., VanMeter, J., et al. (1997). Cholinergic stimulation alters performance and task-specific regional cerebral blood flow during working memory. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.94.12.6512
Vancouver
Furey ML, Pietrini P, Haxby JV, Alexander GE, Lee HC, VanMeter J, et al. Cholinergic stimulation alters performance and task-specific regional cerebral blood flow during working memory. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 1997. doi:10.1073/pnas.94.12.6512. PMID: 9177249.
BibTeX
@article{furey1997-9177249,
author = {Furey, M. L. and Pietrini, P. and Haxby, J. V. and Alexander, G. E. and Lee, H. C. and VanMeter, J. and Grady, C. L. and Shetty, U. and others},
title = {{Cholinergic stimulation alters performance and task-specific regional cerebral blood flow during working memory}},
journal = {Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America},
year = {1997},
doi = {10.1073/pnas.94.12.6512},
pmid = {9177249},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.94.12.6512}
}
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Key findings
- Modulation of the cholinergic neurotransmitter system results in changes in memory performance, including working memory (WM), in animals and in patients with Alzheimer disease.
- Physostigmine both improved WM efficiency, as indicated by faster reaction times, and reduced WM task-related activity in anterior and posterior regions of right midfrontal gyrus, a region shown previously to be associated with WM.
- These results suggest that enhancement of cholinergic function can improve processing efficiency and thus reduce the effort required to perform a WM task, and that activation of right prefrontal cortex is associated with task effort.
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Study details
- Evidence strengthLow
How this study scored 36/100
Published in a peer-reviewed journal. Scored zero for study design, sample size, effect reported, studied in people and randomized / blinded because the record does not state it. We have no data on journal's citation record, times cited, citations per year, impact for its field and year, cited by studies here, still being cited, senior author's track record, institution's track record and multicenter collaboration, so those were left out: it earned 21 of the 58 points we could judge it on, which is 36 out of 100.
| Component | Points | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Journal tier | 7 / 10 | Tier 3 — peer-reviewed journal (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America) |
| Journal's citation record | — / 4 | No journal record from OpenAlex — left out of this score |
| Study design | 0 / 12 | No study design recorded — scores zero, not guessed (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Strength of evidence | 1 / 5 | Rated “low” in our summary |
| Peer-review validation | 10 / 10 | Peer-reviewed. Published as an article in a named peer-reviewed journal. |
| How recent | 1 / 5 | 1997 — older than 20 years, still counted |
| Sample size | 0 / 4 | Participant count not stated — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Effect reported | 0 / 3 | No effect size reported — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Studied in people | 0 / 3 | Not stated whether this was studied in people — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Randomized / blinded | 0 / 2 | No randomization or blinding stated — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Times cited | — / 7 | No citation count (not found in OpenAlex) — left out of this score |
| Citations per year | — / 5 | No citation count or no year — left out of this score |
| Impact for its field and year | — / 6 | No field-weighted citation impact (OpenAlex has none yet) — left out of this score |
| Cited by studies here | — / 6 | Not yet checked against this library's citation graph — left out of this score |
| Still being cited | — / 4 | No yearly citation counts — left out of this score |
| Senior author's track record | — / 4 | Senior author's record not available — left out of this score |
| Institution's track record | — / 3 | No institution listed in OpenAlex — left out of this score |
| Multicenter collaboration | — / 3 | Institutions not listed — left out of this score |
| Indexed in PubMed | 2 / 2 | Indexed in PubMed (PMID 9177249) |
| Free to read | 0 / 2 | Behind a paywall — scores zero |
| Points | 21 / 58 | Scored on 11 of 20 parts. We have no data for the rest, so they are left out: 21 of the 58 points we could judge it on is 36 out of 100. |
| Total | 36 / 100 | — |
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