Cholinergic Basal Forebrain

Question 1

Name the three cholinergic areas of the brain

Answer 1

Basal forebrain
mesopontine tegmentum
Striatum

Question 2

Name the for subnuclei of the basal forebrain

Answer 2

CH1 - medial septal nucleus
Ch2 - vertical band
CH3 - horizonal band
CH4 - nucleus basalis

Question 3

What do the BF nucleus innervate?

Answer 3

CH1/2 - cholinergic input to the hippocampus via the fornic
CH 3 - olfactory bulb, entorhinal cortex, piriform
CH4 - basolateral amygdala and neocortex

Question 4

How does ACh act?

Answer 4

Acts via muscarinic and nicotinic receptors.

Synthesis and release of ACh via: CHAT, VACHT and choline transporter 1. AChE breakc down ACh and recycles it.

Question 5

What does cBF modulate?

Answer 5

Loss of cBF neurons or modulation of their number has little effect on basic cognitive processes and motor output but has significant effects on high order functions including:
Attention, spatial memory, executive functions, learning and memory