Some of the important points discussed included the following:
- Cholinergic system is involved in cognition by increasing arousal, improving signal-to-noise ratio and allocating salience network.
- Acute stress could cause temporary increase in Ach thereby causing hyper-arousal, at the same time compensatory local Ach decrease in respiratory centers may cause increased respiratory rate, and contribute to panic behavior.
- Chronic stress results in Ach decrease in rat studies, and may contribute to the cognitive derangement seen in such conditions.
- It is interesting that nicotine patches (or smoking) could decrease symptoms in patients with Schizophrenia, Parkinson's disease, a hereditary frontal lobe epilepsy, etc.
- The differential effects of stress on Ach in animal vs human studies need further explanation.