Alzheimer's disease is associated with a deficiency of which neurotransmitter?

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Alzheimer's disease is driven in large part by loss of cholinergic neurons, especially in the basal forebrain, which leads to a significant drop in acetylcholine activity in the cortex and hippocampus—areas critical for memory and learning. This deficiency in acetylcholine helps explain the characteristic memory impairment and cognitive decline. Therapies that inhibit acetylcholinesterase aim to raise acetylcholine levels and can provide modest symptomatic benefit, underscoring the central role of acetylcholine in the disease process. Other neurotransmitter changes in Alzheimer’s exist but are not the defining deficiency: dopamine issues are more linked to movement and reward pathways, GABA changes are not a primary deficiency, and norepinephrine is typically reduced rather than increased due to loss of its source neurons.