Acute nicotine effects on auditory sensory memory in tacrine-treated and nontreated patients with Alzheimer's disease: An event-related potential study

C. Engeland, C. Mahoney, E. Mohr, V. Ilivitsky, Verner J. Knott

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

32 Scopus citations

Abstract

The auditory mismatch negativity (MMN) event-related brain potential (ERP) reflects the storage of information in acoustic sensory memory. Thirteen patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD), 6 receiving treatment with the cholinesterase inhibitor, tacrine [tetrahydroaminoacridine (THA)], and 7 receiving no treatment, were administered 2 mg of nicotine polacrilex and placebo. MMNs were recorded with 1- and 3-s interstimulus intervals (ISIs) during pre- and post-placebo/nicotine administration. Amplitudes decreased from pre- to post-placebo recordings in nontreated patients but remained stable in THA-treated patients. Comparison of pre- and post-nicotine MMNs found amplitude increases with nicotine in nontreated but not in THA-treated patients. MMN latencies were shortened by nicotine in both treatment groups. These exploratory findings suggest that nicotine-improved strength of acoustic sensory memory traces and speed of acoustic sensory discrimination in AD are differentially affected by chronic tacrine treatment.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)457-464
Number of pages8
JournalPharmacology Biochemistry and Behavior
Volume72
Issue number1-2
DOIs
StatePublished - 2002

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • Biochemistry
  • Toxicology
  • Pharmacology
  • Clinical Biochemistry
  • Biological Psychiatry
  • Behavioral Neuroscience

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