Treatment with Serotonergic Drugs of Emotional Disturbances in Patients with Dementia Disorders

Neuropathologjcal and neurochemical postmortem investigations of brains of Alzheimer-afflicted patients have shown that there is a serotonergic deficit, as marked by reduced concentrations of 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT, serotonin) and 5-hydroxyindoleacetic acid (5-HIAA) in tissue samples. 5-HIAA is also significantly reduced in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) (for review see Cowbum et al., 1989). In vascular dementia (VAD), there are also general neurochemical changes in the brain, as marked by reduced acetylcholine transferase activity and reduced concentrations of 5-HT and 5-HIAA (Gottfries et al., 1994). These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.