Involvement of the cholinergic basal forebrain nuclei in spinocerebellar ataxia type 2 (SCA2)

Aims: Spinocerebellar ataxia type 2 (SCA2) belongs to the CAG repeat or polyglutamine diseases. Along with a large variety of motor, behavioural and neuropsychological symptoms the clinical picture of patients suffering from this autosomal dominantly inherited ataxia may also include deficits of attention, impairments of memory, as well as frontal-executive and visuospatial dysfunctions. As the possible morphological correlates of these cognitive SCA2 deficits are unclear we examined the cholinergic basal forebrain nuclei, which are believed to be crucial for several aspects of normal cognition and may contribute to impairments of cognitive functions under pathological conditions. Methods: …