The biological effects of organophosphorous chemical warfare agents (CWAs) are exerted by inhibition of acetylcholinesterase (AChE), which blocks the hydrolysis of acetylcholine leading to hypercholinergy, seizures, status epilepticus, respiratory/ cardiovascular failure and death. Current investigations show that bio-scavenger therapy, using purified fetal bovine AChE and the more recently tes...

Nuclei in multinucleated skeletal muscle fibers are capable of expressing different sets of muscle-specific genes depending on their locations within the fiber. Here we test the hypothesis that each nucleus can behave autonomously and responds to signals generated locally on the plasma membrane. We used acetylcholinesterase (AChE) as a marker because its transcripts and protein are concentrated...

Inhibition of acetylcholinesterase (AChE) is a common treatment for early stages of the most general form of dementia, Alzheimer's Disease (AD). In this study, methanol, dichloromethane and aqueous crude extracts from 80 Traditional Chinese Medical (TCM) plants were tested for their in vitro anti-acetylcholinesterase activity based on Ellman's colorimetric assay. All three extracts of Berberis ...

OBJECTIVE Agricultural pesticide handlers are at an elevated risk for overexposure to organophosphate (OP) pesticides, but symptoms can be difficult to recognise, making biomarkers invaluable for diagnosis. Occupational monitoring programmes for cholinesterase depression generally rely on measuring activity of either of the two common blood cholinesterases which serve as proxy measurements for ...

Neurons in the rat central nervous system (CNS) were examined for their content of both the acetylcholine-synthesizing enzyme, choline acetyltransferase (ChAT; acetyl-CoA, choline O-acetyl-transferase, EC 2.3.16), and the transmitter-degrading enzyme, acetylcholinesterase (AChE). ChAT was localized immunohistochemically and AChE was localized histochemically in normal, colchicine-treated, or di...

Acetylcholinesterase (AChE) plays a crucial physiological role in termination of impulse transmission at cholinergic synapses through rapid hydrolysis of acetylcholine. In addition, it was implicated in amyloid plaque formation, a hallmark of Alzheimer's disease (AD), and most of the drugs used in AD treatment are AChE inhibitors. Thus ACHE is an obvious candidate gene for pharmacogenetic study...

We tested the hypothesis that acetylcholinesterase (AChE) expression in skeletal muscle cells is increased by passive mechanical stimulation. To this end, primary cultures of myotubes were subjected to repeated cycles of stretch-relaxation for 5 min, 30 min, 3 h, and 24 h, using the Flexercell FX-2000 strain unit. Although mechanical stimulation did not affect AChE expression at early time poin...

Magnetic particles (MPs) have been widely used in biological applications in recent years as a carrier for various molecules. Their big advantage is in repeated use of immobilized molecules including enzymes. Acetylcholinesterase (AChE) is an enzyme playing crucial role in neurotransmission and the enzyme is targeted by various molecules like Alzheimer's drugs, pesticides and warfare agents. In...

At cholinergic synapses, acetylcholinesterase (AChE) is critical for ensuring normal synaptic transmission. However, little is known about how this enzyme is maintained and regulated in vivo. In this work, we demonstrate that the dissociation of fluorescently-tagged fasciculin 2 (a specific and selective peptide inhibitor of AChE) from AChE is extremely slow. This fluorescent probe was used to ...

Acetylcholinesterase (AChE) inhibitor is a basic drug design recently used in treating Alzheimer’s disease (AD). However, butyrylcholinesterase (BuChE) also suggested to be responsible for the hydrolysis of acetylcholine (ACh) and its inhibition may benefit in the latter stage of AD. Nonetheless, the search for potent AChE and BuChE inhibitor is still in need, in curing this neurodegenerative d...