Partial reversal of anticholinergic amnesia by choline chloride

Twenty young adult males were given tests of memory and mood after receiving choline chloride plus scopolamine, placebo plus scopolamine, and two placebos on separate days in randomized order. Scopolamine caused a marked impairment in performance on a verbal learning task. Pretreatment with choline caused a small but significant decrease in this impairment and partially reversed the mood changes produced by scopolamine. Although several previous studies have failed to demonstrate that choline has a significant effect on cognition when given alone, the present results indicate that choline can enhance cognition under conditions of cholinergic blockade. This is consistent with preclinical data indicating that cholinergic neurons are most sensitive to precursor availability when they are firing rapidly.