NGFR and Alzheimer disease: As early degeneration of basal forebrain cholinergic neurons (BFCNs) does not occur in AD mouse models (Perez et al., 2007), an immunotoxin that selectively targets cholinergic neurons through their expression of the p75 neurotrophin receptor (p75NTR), the anti-p75NTR antibody-conjugated ribosome-inactivating toxin (p75-saporin), has been used to induce BFCN lesions and investigate the subsequent downstream effects.