During the past decade research into the pharmacology of cognition, particularly regarding learning and memory, has supported the concept that many potential neural targets exist for the development of cognitive-enhancing drugs. Whereas the main impetus for this research has been the ever growing population of individuals with dementing disorders such as Alzheimer`s disease, attention is also being focused on issues relating to cognitive impairment associated with "normal" aging. This book is useful as a source of information for making informed decisions regarding the relative utility and attributes of the various neural targets that have been studied to date.

Inhalt

The cholinergic hypothesis - past and present.- Drugs that target cholinesterases.- Drugs that target muscarinic cholinergic receptors.- Rationale and prospects for drugs that target nicotinic acetylcholine receptors.- Drugs that target catecholaminergic receptors.- Drugs that target serotonergic receptors.- Drugs that target ionotropic excitatory amino acid receptors.- Cognitive enhancing effects of drugs that target histamine receptors.- Peptide and steroid hormone receptors as drug targets for enhancement of learning and memory performance.- Natural products as cognition enhancing agents.- Drugs with multiple CNS targets.