The cholinergic system plays important roles in neurotransmission in both the peripheral and central nervous systems. The cholinergic neurotransmitter acetylcholine is synthesized by choline acetyltransferase (ChAT) and its action terminated by acetylcholinesterase (AChE) and butyrylcholinesterase (BuChE). The predominance of AChE has focused much attention on understanding the relationship of ...

BACKGROUND Prolonged apnoea following injection of ester-containing myoralaxants was first described in 1953. Because a large part of administered succinylcholine is shortly hydrolyzed by plasma butyrylcholinesterase (BChE) under normal conditions, prolonged apnoea was attributed to deficiency in BChE. It was found that BChE deficiency was due to genetic variations. Human BChE gene shows a larg...

Cocaine addiction is associated with devastating medical consequences, including cardiotoxicity and risk-conferring prolongation of the QT interval. Viral gene transfer of cocaine hydrolase engineered from butyrylcholinesterase offers therapeutic promise for treatment-seeking drug users. Although previous preclinical studies have demonstrated benefits of this strategy without signs of toxicity,...

Butyrylcholinesterase administration has been shown to block the effects of cocaine. However, even in model systems, the pharmacokinetics of the enzyme are only partly understood. Measurements of plasma enzyme concentration, antibody titer determinations, and measurement of cocaine-induced locomotor activity in mice were used to describe the disposition of butyrylcholinesterase. Clearance of th...

The present study reports the synthesis of a series N-substituted derivatives of brominated 2-phenitidine. First, the reaction of 2-phenitidine (1) with benzenesulfonyl chloride (2) in aqueous media yielded N-(2-ethoxyphenyl) benzenesulfonamide (3), which was then subjected to bromination with bromine in the presence of glacial acetic acid to give N-(4,5-dibromo-2-ethoxyphenyl) benzenesulfonami...