In the Gulf War, soldiers were both exposed to stress and given AChE inhibitors to prevent nerve gas damage, which might combine to create a brief burst
of unusually high
acetylcholine levels — and a long - term
acetylcholine deficit, Soreq points out.
The rationale behind the project is that
acetylcholine plays are role in cognitive functioning and that there is a subgroup
of schizophrenia patients that have reduced density and M1 receptor binding in the hippocampus and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex that are referred to as «muscarinic receptor -
deficit schizophrenia» or MRDS.