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Objective: Cerebral Autosomal Dominant Arteriopathy with Subcortical Infarcts and Leukoencephalopathy (CADASIL) is a hereditary small vessel disease responsible for an early onset cognitive impairment. Aim of our study was to test the cortical cholinergic innervation in CADASIL by short latency afferent inhibition (SAI) technique., Methods: We applied SAI in ten CADASIL patients and in ten age-matched normal controls. SAI is a phenomenon observed on motor evoked potential when transcranial magnetic stimulation is delivered after a time ranging from 2 to 8 ms longer than the time needed by the peripheral nerve afferent input to reach the somatosensory cortex., Results: The amount of short latency afferent inhibition was significantly smaller in CADASIL patients than in controls (79.5+/-21.7% Vs 42.7+/-14.1% of test size; p<0.001, two tailed Mann-Whitney test). The mean resting motor threshold (RMT) was significantly lower in CADASIL patients than in controls (49.4+/-14.4% Vs 65.6+/-15.4%; p=0.02)., Conclusions: We demonstrated by SAI technique a central cholinergic impairment in CADASIL., Significance: SAI could be used to evaluate the cholinergic dysfunction and potentially the efficacy of cholinomimetic therapy in CADASIL.

Objective: To evaluate the relationship between some EEG spectral parameters and age of onset of Alzheimer's disease (AD)., Methods: A study on the wakefulness EEG, recorded during eyes closed and open, was carried out on 150 AD patients (NINCDS-ADRDA criteria). Fifty-two normal subjects served as controls., Results: A significant prevalence of an EEG spectrum characterised by lack of a dominant peak in the 6.5-12 Hz band was found in early AD (EAD). Age of onset correlated inversely with the 1-6.5 Hz relative powers and positively with 6.5-12 Hz relative powers. A similar correlation was also found when a subgroup of mild initial AD was selected. Moreover, evidence of EEG changes peculiar to early onset AD emerged when 3 subgroups (with age of onset < or =60, range 61-69 and > or =70 years) were compared., Conclusion: Irrespective of the severity of disease, this study provides evidence of specific changes of wakeful EEG in patients affected by early-onset AD.