Neuroscience
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High-affinity nicotine binding, considered to primarily reflect the presence of CNS alpha 4 beta 2 nicotinic receptor subunits, was examined autoradiographically in brain regions most severely affected by Alzheimer and Parkinson types of pathology. In the midbrain, the high density of binding associated with the pars compacta of the substantia nigra was extensively reduced (65-75%, particularly in the lateral portion) in both Lewy body dementia and Parkinson's disease. Since loss of dopaminergic neurons in Lewy body dementia was only moderate (40%), loss or down-regulation of the nicotinic receptor may precede degeneration of dopaminergic neurons in this region. ⋯ In temporal neocortex there were reductions in Alzheimer's disease throughout the cortical layers but in Lewy body dementia only in lower layers, in which Lewy bodies are concentrated. Abnormalities of the nicotinic receptor in the diseases examined appear to be closely associated with primary histopathological changes: dopaminergic cell loss in Parkinson's disease and Lewy body dementia, amyloid plaques and tangles in subicular and entorhinal areas in Alzheimer's disease. Loss or down-regulation of the receptor may precede neurodegeneration.