Acetylcholine measurement

Togashi H, Matsumoto M, Yoshioka M, Hirokami M, Tochihara M, Saito H (1994) Acetylcholine measurement of cerebrospinal fluid by in vivo microdialysis in freely moving rats. Jpn J Pharmacol 66 7-74. 

Application of the CCM to small sets (n < 6) of enzyme inhibitors revealed correlations between the inhibitory activity and the chirality measure of the inhibitors, calculated by Eq. (26) for the entire structure or for the substructure that interacts with the enzyme (pharmacophore) [41], This was done for arylammonium inhibitors of trypsin, Di-dopamine receptor inhibitors, and organophosphate inhibitors of trypsin, acetylcholine esterase, and butyrylcholine esterase. Because the CCM values are equal for opposite enantiomers, the method had to be applied separately to the two families of enantiomers (R- and S-enantiomers). 

The use of mutant 34486 of Neurospora crassa for the microbiological assay of ch oline has been described (8). A physiological method has also been used in which the ch oline is extracted after hydrolysis from a sample of biological material and acetylated. The acetylcholine is then assayed by a kymographic procedure, in which its effect in causing contraction of a piece of isolated rabbit intestine is measured (33). 

An enzymatic assay can also be used for detecting anatoxin-a(s). " This toxin inhibits acetylcholinesterase, which can be measured by a colorimetric reaction, i.e. reaction of the acetyl group, liberated enzymatically from acetylcholine, with dithiobisnitrobenzoic acid. The assay is performed in microtitre plates, and the presence of toxin detected by a reduction in absorbance at 410 nm when read in a plate reader in kinetic mode over a 5 minute period. The assay is not specific for anatoxin-a(s) since it responds to other acetylcholinesterase inhibitors, e.g. organophosphoriis pesticides, and would need to be followed by confirmatory tests for the cyanobacterial toxin. 

Organophosphates, such as methyl parathion, are known to inhibit cholinesterase activity. A method has been developed to measure the extent of this inhibition and relate it to organophosphate exposure (EPA 1980d Nabb and Whitfield 1967). In this EPA-recommended method, blood is separated into plasma and red blood cell fractions. The fractions are treated with saline solution, brought to pH 8 with sodium hydroxide, and dosed with acetylcholine perchlorate. The ensuing acetic acid releasing enzyme reaction... 

CBs, like OPs, act as inhibitors of ChE. They are treated as substrates by the enzyme and carbamylate the serine of the active site (Figure 10.8). Speaking generally, car-bamylated AChE reactivates more rapidly than phosphorylated AChE. After aging has occurred, phosphorylation of the enzyme is effectively irreversible (see Section 10.2.4). Carbamylated AChE reactivates when preparations are diluted with water, a process that is accelerated in the presence of acetylcholine, which competes as a substrate. Thus, the measurement of AChE inhibition is complicated by the fact that reactivation occurs during the course of the assay. Carbamylated AChE is not reactivated by PAM and related compounds that are used as antidotes to OP poisoning (see Box 10.1). 

It is already evident that the turnover rate of a transmitter is only a crude measure of its release rate. Further limitations are that there is appreciable intraneuronal metabolism of some neurotransmitters notably, the monoamines. In such cases, turnover will overestimate release rate. Another problem, again affecting monoamines, is that some of the released neurotransmitter is taken back into the nerve terminals and recycled. This leads to an underestimate of release rate. Despite these drawbacks, studies of turnover rates uncovered some important features of transmitter release. In particular, they provided the first evidence for distinct functional pools of monoamines, acetylcholine and possibly other neurotransmitters a release pool, which could be rapidly mobilised for release, and a storage or reserve pool which had a slower turnover rate. 

Many early studies of transmitter release depended on measuring its concentration in the effluent of a stimulated, perfused nerve/end-organ preparation. This technique is still widely used to study drug-induced changes in noradrenaline release from sympathetic neurons and the adrenal medulla. However, it is important to realise that the concentration of transmitter will represent only that proportion of transmitter which escapes into the perfusate ( overflow ) (Fig. 4.2). Monoamines, for instance, are rapidly sequestered by uptake into neuronal and non-neuronal tissue whereas other transmitters, such as acetylcholine, are metabolised extensively within the synapse. Because of these local clearance mechanisms, the amount of transmitter which overflows into the perfusate will depend not only on the frequency of nerve stimulation (i.e. release rate) but also on the dimensions of the synaptic cleft and the density of innervation. 

Potential oscillation was measured in the presence of cholinergic agents (acetylcholine chloride, carbamylcholine chloride, carbamyl- d-methylcholine chloride, and acetyl-/6-methylcholine chloride) and anticholinergic agents (tetramethylammonium chloride, tetra-ethylammonium chloride, succinylcholine chloride, hexamethonium chloride, scopolamine hydrobromide, atropine sulfate, homatropine hydrochloride, and tubocurarine chloride)... 

Many measurements in pharmacology rely on a chain of events following receptor activation to produce a measurable response — for example, contraction of the smooth muscle of a piece of guinea-pig ileum in response to muscarinic receptor activation by acetylcholine. This means that the relationship between receptor occupancy and response is likely to be complex, and mechanisms of drug action in such systems are often difficult to define. 

State-dependent release of acetylcholine in rat thalamus measured by in vivo microdialysis. J. Neurosci 14, 5236-42. 

Marrosu, F., Portas, C., Mascia, M. S. et al. (1995). Microdialysis measurement of cortical and hippocampal acetylcholine release during the sleep-wake cycle in freely moving cats. Brain Res. 671, 329-32. 

Isotonic muscle contraction was used to measure the effects of selected nematode FaRPs on the body-wall muscle of H. contortus. AF2 was found to have inhibitory effects on muscle activity and inhibited acetylcholine (ACh) -induced contractions in the worm whereas AF8 had excitatory effects on the muscle and enhanced ACh-induced contractions (Marks et al., 1999a). There were obvious differences in the methodologies used to evaluate the effects of these peptides on Haemonchus muscle compared with those used to examine these peptide effects on Ascaris. How comparable the results are has yet to be determined. 

Absorbance- and reflectance-based measurements are widespread, as there are many enzymatic reaction products or intermediates that are colored or if not, can react with the appropriate indicator. Sensors using acetylcholinesterase for carbamate pesticides detection are an example of indirect optical fiber biosensors. This enzyme catalyses the hydrolysis of acetylcholine with concomitant decrease in pH41 ... 

FIGURE 1.7 Simultaneous measurements of force (upper traces) and NO concentration (lower traces) in an endothelium intact (+E) segment of rat superior mesenteric artery contracted with 0.5 J,M noradrenaline (NA) and relaxed with either 10pM acetylcholine (ACh) (a), or 10 pM SNAP (b). Panel C shows a similar measurement in the rat superior mesenteric artery after mechanical endothelial cell removal. As can be seen in C, ACh addition does not cause NO production from the artery but shows an NO increase upon SNAP addition causing artery relaxation. W = washout. (Reprinted with permission from Blackwell Publishing [120].)... 

Measuring muscle-evoked responses to repetitive motor nerve electrical stimulation permits detection of presyn-aptic neuromuscular junction dysfunction. In botulism and the Lambert-Eaton syndrome, repetitive stimulation elicits a smaller than normal skeletal muscle response at the beginning of the stimulus train, due to impaired initial release of acetylcholine-containing vesicles from presyn-aptic terminals of motor neurons followed by a normal or accentuated incremental muscle response during repeated stimulation. This incremental response to repetitive stimulation in presynaptic neuromuscular disorders can be distinguished from the decremental response that characterizes autoimmune myasthenia gravis, which affects the postsynaptic component of neuromuscular junctions. 

It is now possible to image not only postsynaptic, but pre-synaptic and intrasynaptic neurotransmission (Fig. 58-5). Presynaptic sites, such as the dopamine transporter and the serotonin transporter the presynaptic dopamine vesicular transporter (VMAT-2) and the acetylcholine transporter extrasynaptic sites such as the enzymes which break down neurotransmitters, e.g. MAO A and MAO B with radioligands that bind to post or pre-synaptic sites, i.e. dopamine competing with radioligands such as UC raclopride (see Fig. 58-9) (PET (Fig. 58-10) can be measured under basal conditions or following drugs which either decrease (e.g. AMPT) or increase (e.g. intravenous amphetamine) intrasynaptic dopamine. 

It is a measure of the changed outlook among neurophysiologists that it has been thought appropriate to include. ..[here]. .. a discussion on the nature of synaptic transmitter substances other than acetylcholine. A few years ago, the whole hypothesis of the chemical mediation of impulse transmission across central synapses was meeting so much opposition that the energies of those who supported it had to be concentrated on the claims of acetylcholine. ... 

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