3 ms·

Donepezil is a cholinesterase inhibitor, meaning it increases the amount of acetylcholine circulating around nerve endings. They just casually put that there,

Donepezil is a cholinesterase inhibitor, meaning it increases the amount of acetylcholine circulating around nerve endings. They just casually put that there, but I don't think most readers will be exactly familiar with what that means? It's basically raising the baselevel of what is one of the most common neurotransmitters. It's a carpet-bomb, not the targeted strike the article makes it out to be.

derefr 13y ago
If I recall, isn't caffeine (effectively) an cholinesterase inhibitor?
- jey 13y ago
  No, it's primarily an adenosine antagonist. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caffeine#Mechanism_of_action http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caffeine#Mechanism_of_action
  - derefr 13y ago
    Right, that's why I said "effectively": caffeine inhibits adenosine from inhibiting cholinesterase (which itself inhibits acetylcholine.) Isn't biology fun?
    - jey 13y ago
      That may be true, but the difference is that caffeine doesn't inhibit cholinesterase across the board.
hyperion2010 13y ago
Sarin and VX are also irreversible cholinesterase inhibitors. And yes, any pharmacological manipulation should be viewed as a systematic and extremely nonspecific manipulation that will virtually always have unintended side effects.