Acetylcholine in Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Dementias surveys the current state of knowledge on the cholinergic system in rodents, primates and humans. The book's authors discuss aging and AD from system, cellular, molecular and genetic aspects. The book critically evaluates the role of the cholinergic system as it relates to clinical symptoms, therapy and pathogenesis. It follows the history of the cholinergic hypothesis of memory and AD from the seventies/early eighties of the previous century to the current view of disease-modifying roles. The book promotes the idea that the organization of the cholinergic system and its purported homeostatic role may contribute to its higher vulnerability to amyloid pathology of AD.Finally, it discusses current trends of AD prevention from a functional medicine perspective.

• Offers a comprehensive overview on the current state of knowledge on Alzheimer’s and the cholinergic system
• Discusses basic molecular, cellular and system level data on the basal forebrain cholinergic system and how the data relates to AD
• Synthesizes basic science such as anatomy, electrophysiology, pharmacology and genetics, with translational data from neurology, psychiatry and cognitive neuroscience