Pick's disease (lobar sclerosis): depletion of neurons in the nucleus basalis of Meynert.

The nucleus basalis of Meynert (nbM) has been implicated in the pathogenesis of the presynaptic cholinergic deficiency in the cerebrum of patients with Alzheimer's disease. To further define the role of this cholinergic basal forebrain nucleus in dementia, we examined the nbM in two patients with lobar sclerosis, or Pick's disease (PD). The brains of both of these patients showed substantial reductions in the number of nerve cells in many neuronal populations, including the nbM. Our observations of the changes in the nbM are correlated with previous investigations of cholinergic markers in PD.