Cholinergic Receptor Subtypes and Their Role in Cognition, Emotion, and Vigilance Control: an Overview of Preclinical and Clinical Findings
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Psychopharmacology (2011) 215:205–229 DOI 10.1007/s00213-010-2153-8 REVIEW Cholinergic receptor subtypes and their role in cognition, emotion, and vigilance control: An overview of preclinical and clinical findings Susanne Graef & Peter Schönknecht & Osama Sabri & Ulrich Hegerl Received: 15 June 2010 /Accepted: 15 December 2010 /Published online: 8 January 2011 # Springer-Verlag 2011 Abstract memory, whereas the α4β2* subtype has been linked to Rationale The cholinergic system has long been linked to tests of attention. Both muscarinic and nicotinic cholinergic cognitive processes. Two main classes of acetylcholine mechanisms play a role in modulating brain electrical (ACh) receptors exist in the human brain, namely musca- activity. Nicotinic receptors have been strongly associated rinic and nicotinic receptors, of which several subtypes with the modulation of depression and anxiety. occur. Conclusions Cholinergic receptor manipulations have an Objectives This review seeks to provide an overview of effect on cognition, emotion, and brain electrical activity as previous findings on the influence of cholinergic receptor measured by EEG. Changes in cognition can result from direct manipulations on cognition in animals and humans, with cholinergic receptor manipulation or from cholinergically particular emphasis on the role of selected cholinergic induced changes in vigilance or affective state. receptor subtypes. Furthermore, the involvement of these receptor subtypes in the regulation of emotion and brain Keywords nAChR . Nicotinic receptor . Acetylcholine electrical activity as measured by electroencephalography receptor . Vigilance . Cognition . Working memory . (EEG) shall be addressed since these domains are considered Attention . Depression . Anxiety to be important modulators of cognitive functioning. Results In regard to cognition, the muscarinic receptor Abbreviations subtypes have been implicated mainly in memory func- 5-CSRT Five-choice serial reaction time tions, but have also been linked to attentional processes. ACh Acetylcholine The nicotinic α7 receptor subtype is involved in working CPT Continuous performance task EEG Electroencephalography FDG Fluoro-2-deoxy-D-glucose The asterisk used in the receptor nomenclature indicates that the HVS High-voltage spindle receptor complex may contain additional subunits. : : mAChR Muscarinic acetylcholine receptor S. Graef (*) P. Schönknecht U. Hegerl MPTP Methylphenyltetrahydropyridin Department of Psychiatry, University of Leipzig, nAChR Nicotinic acetylcholine receptor Semmelweisstr. 10, 04103 Leipzig, Germany PET Positron emission tomography e-mail: [email protected] O. Sabri Department of Nuclear Medicine, University of Leipzig, Liebigstr. 18, Introduction 04103 Leipzig, Germany The observation that cholinergic markers in the cerebral S. Graef cortex such as choline acetyltransferase or acetylcholines- Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, ’ Stephanstr. 1a, terase are reduced in patients with Alzheimer s disease 04103 Leipzig, Germany sparked the interest in the relationship between the 206 Psychopharmacology (2011) 215:205–229 cholinergic system and cognition, particularly due to the The cholinergic system fact that this decrease correlates with cognitive performance deficits (Bowen et al. 1976; Perry et al. 1978). Since these In the central nervous system, neurons that use the first findings, more extensive knowledge about the cholin- neurotransmitter acetylcholine (ACh) form the so-called ergic system and the different cholinergic receptors has cholinergic system. Cholinergic neurons form a contiguous been gained. Meanwhile, multiple cholinergic receptor aggregate of cells running from the cranial nerve nuclei of subtypes have been identified, and investigations into the the brain stem to the medullary tegmentum and pontome- involvement of the specific subtypes in cognition have sencephalic tegmentum, continuing rostrally through the advanced. diencephalon to the telencephalon (Woolf 1991). There are This review seeks to provide an overview of previous three major cholinergic subsystems in the brain, two of findings on the influence of cholinergic receptor manipu- which are projection systems with broad, diffuse and rather lations on cognition, with particular regard to the role of sparse innervation to wide areas of the brain. In these two selected cholinergic receptor subtypes. Furthermore, the projection systems, cholinergic neurons originate either involvement of these receptor subtypes in the regulation of from (1) various basal forebrain nuclei (particularly, the brain electrical activity as measured by electroencephalog- nucleus basalis Meynert), from where they innervate raphy (EEG) shall be addressed in order to evaluate the mainly the cortex (e.g. neocortex, cingulate cortex) and relationship between the cholinergic system and vigilance hippocampus, or (2) from brainstem nuclei (e.g. the regulation. pedunculopontine and laterodorsal tegmental nucleus), The term vigilance is used with various different from where they provide widespread innervation to the definitions depending on the scientific field, in which it thalamus and midbrain dopaminergic areas and also is used. Psychologists often refer to vigilance as descending innervation to the caudal pons and brain stem sustained attention. Here, we use the term “vigilance” (Dani and Bertrand 2007; Everitt and Robbins 1997; Thiel not to describe an attentionalconceptbuttoreferto and Fink 2007). The laterodorsal tegmental nucleus projects neurophysiological arousal as measured by EEG. With mainly to the ventral tegmental area; the pedunculopontine vigilance stages, we refer to different global states of nucleus innervates both the ventral tegmental area and the brainfunctionwhichcanbedelineatednotonlyduring substantia nigra (see also Maskos 2008; Mena-Segovia et sleep but also during wakefulness as transition states al. 2008; Sesack and Grace 2010). The cholinergic from high alertness to drowsiness. We consider this modulation of the midbrain dopamine system has been additional focus important since cognition and vigilance connected to nicotine self-administration in rats and hence (in terms of neurophysiological arousal) are interrelated. is thought to support drug reinforcement (see Maskos 2008, However, it is not quite clear how this interrelation is but see also Levin and Rose 1995 for interactions of the organised, i.e. whether both cognition and vigilance are cholinergic and dopaminergic system in terms of working directly influenced by the cholinergic system or whether memory performance). cognitive changes upon cholinergic manipulation are The third cholinergic subsystem arises from a collection only a result of a cholinergically induced change in of cholinergic interneurons in the striatum, which provides vigilance regulation. very dense local innervation. These interneurons contribute Cognitive aspects are not only influenced by a person’s about 1–3% of the striatal neurons and interact with the rich vigilance state either, but also by his or her affective state. dopaminergic innervation of the striatum arising from the Therefore, it seems most appropriate to think of an substantia nigra pars compacta and the ventral tegmental individual’s cognition, EEG vigilance and affective state area (Zhou et al. 2002). as partly overlapping and interacting domains, all of which There are two main classes of ACh receptors: muscarinic are also influenced by cholinergic interference. For example, (mAChR) and nicotinic receptors (nAChR). vigilance and the affective state influence cognition. In turn, cognitive processing has also been suggested to have an Muscarinic receptors influence on affect (e.g. Schachter and Singer 1962). Furthermore, there seems to be a link between vigilance Apart from being responsive to ACh, muscarinic receptors and affective state since vigilance patterns differ between also have a high affinity for muscarine. They are metabotropic various affective spectrum disorders (Hegerl et al. 2008b). receptors that act by coupling to G proteins (Caulfield 1993) This article shall provide an overview of clinical and and belong to a multigene family that also includes preclinical findings concerning the influence of the brain serotonin, norepinephrine, and dopamine receptors (Blake cholinergic system on these three domains, namely brain et al. 1991). electrical activity (as a measure of vigilance), cognition and Until now, cloning studies have identified five different emotion. genes (m1–m5) putatively encoding muscarinic receptor Psychopharmacology (2011) 215:205–229 207 subtypes. Consequently, it is assumed that there are also mation concerning the nicotinic acetylcholine receptors, refer five mAChR subtypes, M1 to M5 (Caulfield 1993; Hulme et to the book by Changeux and Edelstein (2005). al. 1990), although only M1 to M4 could be verified by pharmacological binding studies (Eglen et al. 1994). M1/ m1 is the most abundant subtype in cortex and hippocam- Vigilance regulation pus, while M2/m2 can be found mainly in brainstem, cerebellum and thalamus. Within the striatum, M4/m4 is In parallel to the transition from active wakefulness to deep most often found (Levey 1993). For further details on the sleep, the human brain takes on different global functional distribution of the muscarinic subtypes in the brain, see states. These functional states are reflected in the spectral Flynn et al. (1997) or Caulfield (1993). This review will composition and topography of the EEG and