Silver, Ann: transcript of a video interview (07- and 08-Sep-2007)

Abstract

Ann Silver is internationally known for her pioneering work on acetylcholine in both the peripheral and central nervous system. In the 1960’s when many physiologists were sceptical about chemical neurotransmission in the central nervous system, Silver devised methods for measuring acetylcholine’s biosynthetic enzyme choline acetylase in small tissue samples, and produced histochemical methods which allowed choline acetylase and acetylcholine’s degrading enzyme acetylcholinesterase to be visualised in tissue sections (see e.g. Silver, A (1974) The biology of cholinesterases Amsterdam, North Holland Pub Co. ). Using these techniques she mapped cholinergic systems, which helped emphasise the importance of these pathways in brain areas central to cognitive and memory functions and laid the basis for the “cholinergic hypothesis” of Alzheimer’s disease. This in turn led to the development of acetylcholinesterase inhibitors as the only treatments currently approved for Alzheimer’s disease.