Dornan, Faculty Advisor, Dr. Wayne

Tinkler, Gregory P.

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Illinois Wesleyan UniversityDigital Commons @ IWUJohn Wesley Powell Student ResearchConference 1995, 6th Annual JWP ConferenceApr 22nd, 10:00 AM - 4:00 PMAn Animal Model of Alzheimer's: The Use of theNeurotoxin AF64A in Combination withGlucocorticoids to Differentiate the Importance ofCholinergic Pathways in Learning and MemoryGregory P. TinklerIllinois Wesleyan UniversityDr. Wayne Dornan, Faculty AdvisorIllinois Wesleyan UniversityFollow this and additional works at: http://digitalcommons.iwu.edu/jwprcThis Event is brought to you for free and open access by The Ames Library, the Andrew W. Mellon Center for Curricular and FacultyDevelopment, the Office of the Provost and the Office of the President. It has been accepted for inclusion in Digital Commons @ IWU bythe faculty at Illinois Wesleyan University. For more information, please contact digitalcommons@iwu.edu.©Copyright is owned by the author of this document.Gregory P. Tinkler and Dr. Wayne Dornan, Faculty Advisor, "An Animal Model of Alzheimer's: The Use of the NeurotoxinAF64A in Combination with Glucocorticoids to Differentiate the Importance of Cholinergic Pathways in Learning andMemory" (April 22, 1995). John Wesley Powell Student Research Conference. Paper 5.http://digitalcommons.iwu.edu/jwprc/1995/posters/5AN ANIMAL MODEL OF AlZHEIMER'S: TIlE USE OF TIlE NEUROTOXIN AF64A IN COMBINATION WITH GLUCOCORTICOIDS TO DIFFERENTIATE TIlE IMPORTANCE OF CHOLINERGIC PATHWAYS IN LEARNING AND MEMORY. Gregory P. Tinkler, and Dr. Wayne Doman", Department of Psychology, IWU. There are approximately four million patients with Alzheimer's Disease (AD) in America today, with about 100,000 new cases being diagnosed every year. AD patients exhibit a prolonged loss of cognitive function, with learning and memory being among the first faculties to be affected. The pathological hallmarks of AD include senile plaques, comprised of the protein 13 -Amyloid. It is hypothesized that the aggregation of the 13 A protein into senile plaques in areas involved in learning and memory- such as the hippocampus- either causes the deficits seen in AD or acts synergistically to render the brain more vulnerable to insult. Previous efforts by our lab combining a neurotoxin with 13 A in the rat have demonstrated this, as well as 13 A in combination with the stress hormone corticosterone, which has been thought to exacerbate hippocampal damage in high levels. The deficits, however, have not been consistent. As an animal model of AD necessitates the dependability of these deficits, another possibility is being explored. The neurotransmitter system affected first and foremost in AD is the cholinergic system of the septohippocampal pathway. This is evidenced by a decrease of cholinergic markers such as choline acetyl transferase in AD brains. Much attention has been focused on the possibility of increasing the amounts of these cholinergic markers as a treatment for AD. The same premise has also been applied to the development of an animal model: a recent study by Hortnagl et al has demonstrated that intraventricular injections of a neurotoxic choline analog AF64A in combination with chronic glucocorticoid administration results in a decrease of cholinergic markers. This study, however, did no assessment to determine whether there were any resulting behavioral effects. We will attempt to expand on the Hortnagl study by assessing the effects on spatial learning in rats that have received injections of the neurotoxin AF64A and in combination with chronic stress. The Morris Water Maze will be used to test for behavioral deficits. The results of this study will be compared to another study at this conference which utilizes a highly selective cholinergic immunotoxin. 

An Animal Model of Alzheimer\u27s: The Use of the Neurotoxin AF64A in Combination with Glucocorticoids to Differentiate the Importance of Cholinergic Pathways in Learning and Memory

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An Animal Model of Alzheimer\u27s: The Use of the Neurotoxin AF64A in Combination with Glucocorticoids to Differentiate the Importance of Cholinergic Pathways in Learning and Memory

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