Auditory event-related potentials in patients with mild cognitive impairment before and after donepezil treatment

Abstract

Objective To explore the effects of donepezil on auditory event-related potentials in cases of mild cognitive impairment(MCI).Methods Thirty-four mildly impaired patients were examined using auditory event-related potentials and neuropsychological tests.All patients received 5 mg of donepezil orally each day.The patients were retested with the neuropsychological scales and re-examined for auditory event-related potentials after 3 months of treatment.Results All neuropsychological test scores among the MCI patients had improved significantly after treatment There was no significant change in average Boston naming test scores before and after treatment.PS0 amplitudes had decreased significantly after treatment,but P300 amplitude was elevated and latency significantly shortened compared with before treatment.PS0 amplitude was positively correlated with P300 latency in these MCI patients before treatment,but both P300 latencies and PS0 amplitudes showed a negative correlation with scores on the memory sub-tests.Conclusions These results suggest that donepezil may improve cognitive function among MCI patients,especially memory function.The PS0 and P300 components of auditory event-related potentials are objective and sensitive indicators to evaluate the cognition function of MCI patients,and they also can be used as indicators in assessing the efficacy of donepezil treatment of mild cognitive impairment. Key words: Donepezil; Mild cognitive impairment; Neuropsychological tests; Auditory event-related potentials