The choline-leakage hypothesis for the loss of acetylcholine in Alzheimer's disease

We present a hypothesis for the loss of acetylcholine in Alzheimer's disease that is based on two recent experimental results: that β-amyloid causes leakage of choline across cell membranes and that decreased production of acetylcholine increases the production of β-amyloid. According to the hypothesis, an increase in β-amyloid concentration caused by proteolysis of the amyloid precursor protein results in an increase in the leakage of choline out of cells. This leads to a reduction in intracellular choline concentration and hence a reduction in acetylcholine production. The reduction in acetylcholine production, in turn, causes an increase in the concentration of β-amyloid. The resultant positive feedback between decreased acetylcholine and increased β-amyloid accelerates the loss of acetylcholine. We compare the predictions of the choline-leakage hypothesis with a number of experimental observations. We also approximate it with a pair of ordinary differential equations. The solutions of these equations indicate that the loss of acetylcholine is very sensitive to the initial rate of β-amyloid production.