This page is alzhub.org's plain-English summary of a published study, not the paper itself. It is generated from the record we hold for this study, sourced and linked below — check the original for the full text and methods.

16/100

⚠ Preprint — not yet peer-reviewed alzhub usefulness score 16 out of 100. Down syndrome and Alzheimer's

Topic: Brain proteins, microglia and lab models

ABSTRACT Alzheimer’s disease (AD) pathology including amyloid beta (Aβ) plaques and tau tangles accumulate with age in Down Syndrome (DS). Cholinergic abnormalities such as expression of nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs) adversely contribute to cognitive decline and neurodegeneration in AD with similar features possible in DSAD. As a radiotracer for α4β2* nAChRs, [ 18 F]nifene was quantitatively evaluated in the frontal cortex (FCX) and temporal cortex (TCX) of DSAD, AD, and cognitively normal (CN) brain tissue using autoradiography.

Cite this study APA, Vancouver, BibTeX · download .bib or .ris

APA 7th

Karim, F., Chavez-Jacobo, N. P., Liang, C., Head, E., & Mukherjee, J. (2026). Down syndrome postmortem brains exhibit reduction in [ 18 F]nifene binding to α4β2* nicotinic acetylcholinergic receptors. bioRxiv. https://doi.org/10.64898/2026.09.09.750420

Vancouver

Karim F, Chavez-Jacobo NP, Liang C, Head E, Mukherjee J. Down syndrome postmortem brains exhibit reduction in [ 18 F]nifene binding to α4β2* nicotinic acetylcholinergic receptors. bioRxiv. 2026. doi:10.64898/2026.09.09.750420.

BibTeX

@article{karim2026-9885f5da,
  author  = {Karim, F. and Chavez-Jacobo, N. P. and Liang, C. and Head, E. and Mukherjee, J.},
  title   = {{Down syndrome postmortem brains exhibit reduction in [ 18 F]nifene binding to α4β2* nicotinic acetylcholinergic receptors}},
  journal = {bioRxiv},
  year    = {2026},
  doi     = {10.64898/2026.09.09.750420},
  url     = {https://doi.org/10.64898/2026.09.09.750420}
}

Built from the record alzhub holds for this paper, not looked up. Volume, issue and page numbers are not held in the record. Check the citation against the original before you use it.

Key findings

Cholinergic abnormalities such as expression of nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs) adversely contribute to cognitive decline and neurodegeneration in AD with similar features possible in DSAD.
As a radiotracer for α4β2* nAChRs, [ 18 F]nifene was quantitatively evaluated in the frontal cortex (FCX) and temporal cortex (TCX) of DSAD, AD, and cognitively normal (CN) brain tissue using autoradiography.
Anti-tau and anti-Aβ immunostaining in adjacent sections confirmed the presence of tau tangles and Aβ plaques. [ 18 F]Nifene binding in brain sections demonstrated significantly more binding in gray matter (GM) than white matter (WM), with FCX exhibiting more binding than TCX (OptiQuant).
Nicotine substantially displaced [ 18 F]nifene binding in adjacent sections, resulting in average GM/nicotine ratios (DSAD=9.74, AD=10.5, CN=17; suggesting a 38% decrease in AD and a 43% decrease in DSAD) and WM/nicotine ratios (DSAD=2.73, AD=3.31, CN=5.62; suggesting a 41% decrease in AD and a 51% decrease in DSAD). [ 18 F]Nifene was correlated with [ 125 I]IBETA (Aβ), showing a strong positive relationship between α4β2* nAChRs and Aβ in DSAD. [ 18 F]Nifene GM/nicotine and WM/nicotine ratios were positively correlated with age in TCX and FCX.

Why it matters

This postmortem brain tissue study found reduced binding of a radiotracer to nicotinic acetylcholine receptors in Down syndrome and Alzheimer's disease brains. It describes a cholinergic abnormality but tests no treatment or prevention.

Study details

Evidence strengthLow

How this study scored 16/100

Preprint — not yet peer-reviewed. It scored 17 on the same rubric, but non-peer-reviewed sources are capped at 16, so it shows as 16. Scored zero for study design, sample size, effect reported, studied in people and randomised / blinded because the record does not state it. We have no data on impact for its field and year, so that was left out: it earned 16 of the 94 points we could judge it on, which is 17 out of 100.

Component	Points	Why
Journal tier	2 / 10	Tier 4 — not a peer-reviewed journal (bioRxiv)
Journal's citation record	0 / 4	Not a journal article, so the journal's record does not count
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	4 / 10	Preprint — not yet peer-reviewed. Hosted on a preprint server.
How recent	5 / 5	2026 — within 1 year(s) of the newest study here
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)
Randomised / blinded	0 / 2	No randomisation or blinding stated — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0)
Times cited	0 / 7	Cited 0 times (OpenAlex, 2026-10-10)
Citations per year	0 / 5	0.0 citations a year over 2 year(s) since 2026
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	0 / 6	No other study in this library cites it
Still being cited	0 / 4	Cited 0 times in 2024–2026 (2026 still in progress; OpenAlex)
Senior author's track record	2 / 4	Last-listed author Jogeshwar Mukherjee: h-index 35 (OpenAlex, whole career)
Institution's track record	1 / 3	University of California, Irvine: institution h-index 1,195 (OpenAlex)
Multi-centre collaboration	0 / 3	OpenAlex lists 1 institution(s) in 1 country — scores zero (affiliation lists can be incomplete)
Indexed in PubMed	1 / 2	Not in PubMed, but has a DOI
Free to read	0 / 2	Behind a paywall — scores zero
Points	16 / 94	Scored on 19 of 20 parts. We have no data for the rest, so they are left out: 16 of the 94 points we could judge it on is 17 out of 100.
Total	17 / 100	Capped to 16 because this is not a peer-reviewed article.

What each of these 20 components measures, and what this score is not →

Read the original

Full text: free to read — OpenAlex lists this copy as free to read: the link above (checked 6 Feb 1020).

Related studies in Down syndrome and Alzheimer's

Also tagged “down”

527 studies in the library carry the topic tag “down”; these are this study's neighbours in a fixed, alphabetical-by-hash tour of them, not the closest in content. All 527 tagged studies.

Similar studies

More on Down syndrome and Alzheimer's

See all studies in Down syndrome and Alzheimer's →