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Further evidence for the cholinergic hypothesis of aging and dementia from the canine model of aging
Araujo JA, Studzinski CM, Milgram NW.. Progress in neuro-psychopharmacology & biological psychiatry, 2005-03-01
Topic: Risk, prevention and care in population studies
Plain-language summary
Memory decline in human aging and dementia is linked to dysfunction of the cholinergic system. Aging dogs demonstrate cognitive impairments and neuropathology that models human aging and dementia. This paper reviews recent evidence suggesting cholinergic involvement in canine cognitive aging based on studies with the anti-cholinergic drug, scopolamine, and a novel acetylcholinesterase inhibitor, phenserine. In particular, we examine: (1) the cognitive specificity of scopolamine's impairment in dogs, (2) the effect of age on scopolamine impairment and (3) the effect of phenserine on cognitive performance in dogs. Our findings indicate that working memory performance is disrupted by scopolamine at doses that do not disrupt non-cognitive behavior or long-term, semantic-like, memory, as indicated by performance of previously learned discriminations. This pattern of deficits is also seen in human and canine aging. We demonstrate that aged dogs are more sensitive to the impairing effects of scopolamine than young dogs, suggesting a decrease in cholinergic tone with increasing age. Dogs receiving phenserine demonstrate improved learning and memory compared to placebo controls. Our findings suggest that cholinergic decline could result in memory impairment, but that the memory impairment may be secondary to deficits in attention and/or encoding of new information. Together, these results suggest that the canine cholinergic system declines with age and that the aged dog is a unique model for screening therapeutics and for examining the relationship between amyloid pathology and cholinergic dysfunction in age-dependent cognitive decline.
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APA 7th
Araujo, J. A., Studzinski, C. M., & Milgram, N. W. (2005). Further evidence for the cholinergic hypothesis of aging and dementia from the canine model of aging. Progress in neuro-psychopharmacology & biological psychiatry. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pnpbp.2004.12.008
Vancouver
Araujo JA, Studzinski CM, Milgram NW. Further evidence for the cholinergic hypothesis of aging and dementia from the canine model of aging. Progress in neuro-psychopharmacology & biological psychiatry. 2005. doi:10.1016/j.pnpbp.2004.12.008. PMID: 15795050.
BibTeX
@article{araujo2005-15795050,
author = {Araujo, J. A. and Studzinski, C. M. and Milgram, N. W.},
title = {{Further evidence for the cholinergic hypothesis of aging and dementia from the canine model of aging}},
journal = {Progress in neuro-psychopharmacology \& biological psychiatry},
year = {2005},
doi = {10.1016/j.pnpbp.2004.12.008},
pmid = {15795050},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pnpbp.2004.12.008}
}
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Key findings
- Our findings indicate that working memory performance is disrupted by scopolamine at doses that do not disrupt non-cognitive behavior or long-term, semantic-like, memory, as indicated by performance of previously learned discriminations.
- Dogs receiving phenserine demonstrate improved learning and memory compared to placebo controls.
- Our findings suggest that cholinergic decline could result in memory impairment, but that the memory impairment may be secondary to deficits in attention and/or encoding of new information.
- Together, these results suggest that the canine cholinergic system declines with age and that the aged dog is a unique model for screening therapeutics and for examining the relationship between amyloid pathology and cholinergic dysfunction in age-dependent cognitive decline.
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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 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 (Progress in neuro-psychopharmacology & biological psychiatry) |
| 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 | 2005 — 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 | Laboratory or animal study (title names “canine”) — scores zero |
| 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 15795050) |
| 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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