Pretreatment of animals with butyrylcholinesterase (EC 3.1.1.8 BChE) provides complete protection from the acute effects of organophosphorus nerve agents. Butyrylcholinesterase has also been shown to protect from cocaine toxicity. Large amounts of highly purified butyrylcholinesterase are needed to test the effectiveness of this new therapeutic agent in monkeys. Only a minimum amount of endotox...

Aerotoxic syndrome is assumed to be caused by exposure to tricresyl phosphate, an additive in engine lubricants and hydraulic fluids that is activated to the toxic 2-(ortho-cresyl)-4H-1,3,2-benzodioxaphosphoran-2-one (CBDP). Currently, there is no laboratory evidence to support intoxication of airline crew members by CBDP. Our goal was to develop methods for testing in vivo exposure by identify...

Purified human serum butyrylcholinesterase after treatment with either of the metal chelators EDTA or NaCN was able to bind to a Zn(2+)-chelate-Sepharose affinity column and was eluted from the column by EDTA or imidazole. Prior EDTA treatment of the enzyme was essential for binding to this affinity column. The enzyme could be labelled with (65)Zn(2+) after EDTA treatment of the enzyme. Diethyl...

The K variant of human butyrylcholinesterase is caused by a G/A transition in the butyrylcholinesterase gene, which neither creates nor destroys any restriction site. In an attempt to detect the K variant both simply and rapidly, we developed a two step method of "PCR primer introduced restriction analysis" (PCR-PIRA). The first step was used to introduce a new Fun4HI site into the normal allel...

Phosphylated butyrylcholinesterase is one of the most important biomarkers to verify an exposure to nerve agents, and it can be analyzed with liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS-MS) by detection of a phosphylated nonapeptide that results after digestion of butyrylcholinesterase (BuChE) with pepsin. For a sensitive analysis (low degree of BuChE inhibition), the identity of the ...

Butyrylcholinesterase (E.C. 3.1.1.8) is present in all vertebrates (1, 2). We present here the sequence of rabbit BCHE gene deduced from three genomic clones described elsewhere (3). Each clone contained one exon and together covered the entire coding sequence. The structure of the rabbit BCHE gene is identical to the human gene (4) and to Torpedo ACHE gene (5). Positions of splicing sites with...