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Prior pathology in the basal forebrain cholinergic system predisposes to inflammation-induced working memory deficits: reconciling inflammatory and cholinergic hypotheses of delirium
Field RH, Gossen A, Cunningham C.. The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience, 2012-05-01
Topic: Brain proteins, microglia and lab models
Delirium is a profound, acute confusional state that leads to long-term cognitive decline. Increased anticholinergic medications and prior dementia, in which basal forebrain cholinergic degeneration is a prominent feature, both predict delirium. Thus, cholinergic hypoactivity is thought to be important in cognitive dysfunction during delirium, and acute systemic inflammation is a major trigger for this dysfunction. Here, we hypothesize that decreased cholinergic function confers increased susceptibility to acute inflammation-induced cognitive deficits. We used the murine-p75-saporin immunotoxin (mu-p75-sap) to induce selective lesions of the basal forebrain cholinergic system in mice, mimicking early dementia-associated cholinergic loss, and superimposed systemic inflammation using low-dose bacterial lipopolysaccharide (LPS). Intracerebroventricular injection of mu-p75-sap produced depletion of cholinergic neurons in the basal forebrain and decreased innervation of the hippocampus, but left performance on hippocampal-dependent reference and working memory tasks relatively intact. However, systemic LPS (100 μg/kg) induced acute and transient working memory deficits in lesioned animals without effect in unlesioned controls. CNS inflammatory responses were similar in normal and lesioned animals and the acetylcholinesterase inhibitor, donepezil (1 mg/kg), protected against the acute cognitive deficits in this cholinergic-dependent task. Thus, cholinergic depletion predisposes to development of acute cognitive deficits upon subsequent systemic inflammatory insult. These data provide a useful model for examining interactions between acute systemic inflammation and chronic cholinergic hypofunction in delirium and have implications for the recent trial of rivastigmine in sepsis-associated delirium.
Key findings
- Intracerebroventricular injection of mu-p75-sap produced depletion of cholinergic neurons in the basal forebrain and decreased innervation of the hippocampus, but left performance on hippocampal-dependent reference and working memory tasks relatively intact.
- However, systemic LPS (100 μg/kg) induced acute and transient working memory deficits in lesioned animals without effect in unlesioned controls.
- CNS inflammatory responses were similar in normal and lesioned animals and the acetylcholinesterase inhibitor, donepezil (1 mg/kg), protected against the acute cognitive deficits in this cholinergic-dependent task.
- Thus, cholinergic depletion predisposes to development of acute cognitive deficits upon subsequent systemic inflammatory insult.
- These data provide a useful model for examining interactions between acute systemic inflammation and chronic cholinergic hypofunction in delirium and have implications for the recent trial of rivastigmine in sepsis-associated delirium.
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 randomised / 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 multi-centre 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 (The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience) |
| 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 | 2012 — within 20 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 | — / 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 |
| Multi-centre collaboration | — / 3 | Institutions not listed — left out of this score |
| Indexed in PubMed | 2 / 2 | Indexed in PubMed (PMID 22553034) |
| 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 | — |
What each of these 20 components measures, and what this score is not →
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Cite this study APA, Vancouver, BibTeX · download .bib or .ris
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APA 7th
Field, R. H., Gossen, A., & Cunningham, C. (2012). Prior pathology in the basal forebrain cholinergic system predisposes to inflammation-induced working memory deficits: reconciling inflammatory and cholinergic hypotheses of delirium. The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience. https://doi.org/10.1523/jneurosci.4673-11.2012
Vancouver
Field RH, Gossen A, Cunningham C. Prior pathology in the basal forebrain cholinergic system predisposes to inflammation-induced working memory deficits: reconciling inflammatory and cholinergic hypotheses of delirium. The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience. 2012. doi:10.1523/jneurosci.4673-11.2012. PMID: 22553034.
BibTeX
@article{field2012-22553034,
author = {Field, R. H. and Gossen, A. and Cunningham, C.},
title = {{Prior pathology in the basal forebrain cholinergic system predisposes to inflammation-induced working memory deficits: reconciling inflammatory and cholinergic hypotheses of delirium}},
journal = {The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience},
year = {2012},
doi = {10.1523/jneurosci.4673-11.2012},
pmid = {22553034},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1523/jneurosci.4673-11.2012}
}
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