Acetylcholine removal

The primary mechanism used by cholinergic synapses is enzymatic degradation. Acetylcholinesterase hydrolyzes acetylcholine to its components choline and acetate it is one of the fastest acting enzymes in the body and acetylcholine removal occurs in less than 1 msec. The most important mechanism for removal of norepinephrine from the neuroeffector junction is the reuptake of this neurotransmitter into the sympathetic neuron that released it. Norepinephrine may then be metabolized intraneuronally by monoamine oxidase (MAO). The circulating catecholamines — epinephrine and norepinephrine — are inactivated by catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT) in the liver. 

Acetylcholine serves as a neurotransmitter. Removal of acetylcholine within the time limits of the synaptic transmission is accomplished by acetylcholinesterase (AChE). The time required for hydrolysis of acetylcholine at the neuromuscular junction is less than a millisecond (turnover time is 150 ps) such that one molecule of AChE can hydrolyze 6 105 acetylcholine molecules per minute. The Km of AChE for acetylcholine is approximately 50-100 pM. AChE is one of the most efficient enzymes known. It works at a rate close to catalytic perfection where substrate diffusion becomes rate limiting. AChE is expressed in cholinergic neurons and muscle cells where it is found attached to the outer surface of the cell membrane. 

Extracellular degradation removes acetylcholine, the neuropeptides and ATP. Acetylcholine is rapidly hydrolyzed to choline and acetate by acetylcholinesterase. The enzyme is localized in both the presynaptic and the postsynaptic cell membrane and splits about 10,000 molecules of acetylcholine per second. 

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].)... 

Males were anesthetised and mental glands (N 200) were surgically removed. Secreted components were extracted into 0.8 mM acetylcholine chloride in l/2x PBS (cf Rollmann, Houck and Feldhoff 1999). Gland extracts were centrifuged for 10 min at 14,000 g and the supernatant was removed. The supernatant was filtered (0.2 pm) and loaded as aliquots onto a Sephadex Superfine G-75 gel filtration column (1.6 cm x 15.5 cm Pharmacia, Piscataway, NJ) on a Waters HPLC system (Mil-lipore, Milford, MA). The column had previously been equilibrated with one-half strength Dulbecco s phosphate buffered saline (l/2x PBS). The column was eluted... 

We noted above that too much acetylcholine in the synapse or at a neuromuscular junction can be a problem black widow spider venom works that way by causing massive release of this neurotransmitter. There is another way to accomplish the same thing inhibit the normal route by which acetylcholine once released is subsequently removed. That route is degradation by acetylcholinesterase, an enzyme that catalyzes... 

Figure 14.9 Axonal transport of enzymes, neurotransmitter synthesis, storage in vesicles, release and uptake by presynaptic neurone or enzymic degradation. The neurotransmitter in the synaptic cleft may be removed by the presynaptic neurone (i.e. recycling), by the postsynaptic neurone or by glial cells (not shown). Alternatively, the neurotransmitter may be degraded, and therefore inactivated, by enzyme action. For example, acetylcholine is degraded by acetylcholinesterase in the synaptic cleft (Chapter 3). One of the products, choline, is transported back into the neurone to be reacted with acetyl-CoA to re-form acetylcholine. The vesicle, once empty, may also be recycled for re-packaging (Figure 14.8).

Atropine is often used for colds for temporarily draining the nasopharynx. Atropine is also used in combination with other drugs as an antidote for poisonous anticholinesterase agents such as organophosphorous insecticides and neuroparalytic gases, hi such situations, atropine removes or balances toxicities that are a result of a high concentration of acetylcholine. 

Drags that exhibit central anticholinergic properties are used in treating Parkinsonism. It is believed that they do not affect the synthesis, release, or hydrolysis of acetylcholine. Their medicinal efficacy is manifest by the rednction or removal of motor disturbances cansed by damage to the extrapyramidal system. They reduce rigidity, and to a somewhat lesser degree, akinesia, and they have little effect on tremors. 

The rapid removal of transmitter is essential to the exquisite control of neurotransmission. As a consequence of rapid removal, the magnitude and duration of effect produced by acetylcholine are directly related to the frequency of transmitter release, that is, to the frequency of action potentials generated in the neuron. 

Acetylcholine is removed from the synapse through hydrolysis into acetylCoA and choline by the enzyme acetylcholinesterase (AChE). Removing ACh from the synapse can be blocked irreversibly by organophosphorous compounds and in a reversible fashion by drugs such as physostigmine. 

Another aspect to be considered is the reversibility of a toxic effect. In most cases, toxicity induced by a chemical is essentially reversible. Unless damage to the affected organs has progressed too far, so as to threaten the survival of the organism, the individual will recover when the toxin is removed by excretion or inactivated by metabolism. However, in some cases the effect may outlast the presence of the toxin in the tissue. A typical example of such an effect is intoxication with organophos-phates, which bind essentially irreversibly to acetylcholine esterase. 

Fig. 16.14. Configuration of the M2 helices of the acetylcholine receptor in the closed and open states. The schematic representation is based on a comparison of the electron density map of the acetylcholine receptor in closed and open states. Only three of the five M2 helices are shown, a) Closed state the M2 helices are bent at the middle. The leucine residues point into the interior of the pore and prevent passage of ions, b) Open state the M2 helices are turned outwards at a tangent and the bulky leucine residues are removed from the center of the pore. Reorientation of the M2 helices causes a reorientation of polar amino adds that coat the interior of the pore. The polar amino acids (Ser and Thr residues) are oriented closer to the center of the pore and create a hydrophilic coating of the pore inner wall, which facilitates ion passage. According to Unwin,...

The medicinal chemistry of Alzheimers is complicated by the fact that the etiology of this disease is still far from clear. Evidence points to an association with decreased levels of acetyl choline in the brain. Many of the drugs that have been introduced to date for treating this disease thus comprise agents intended to raise the deficient levels of that neurotransmitter by inhibiting the loss of existing acetylcholine due to the action of cholinesterase. A compound based on an indene that, perhaps surprisingly, inhibits that enzyme has been proposed for the treatment of Alzheimer s. Aldol condensation of piperidine aldehyde (4-2) with the indanone (4-1) from cyclization of 3,4-dimethoxycinnamic acid leads to the olefin (4-3). Catalytic reduction removes the double bond to afford donepezil (4-4) [3]. 

One of the most consistent findings is the sleep disturbance that often precedes and may even trigger a manic phase ( 46). Studies on circadian rhythms have demonstrated that many aspects of the sleep cycle are phase-advanced in mania (i.e., occur earlier than normal), and often these patterns resemble the free-running rhythms seen in normal individuals who are removed from all time cues. In addition, there is a blunting of amplitude and a doubling of the sleep-wake cycle up to 48 hours. Lithium is known to delay the sleep-wake cycle and often slow such free-running rhythms, which in turn are partly modulated by neurotransmitters such as NE, 5-HT, and acetylcholine. Further, manipulation of the sleep-wake cycle may prevent a manic episode or be used to treat the depressive phase (e.g., sleep deprivation therapy see also the section Experiments in Chapter 8). 

The acetylcholine vesicle release process is blocked by botulinum toxin through the enzymatic removal of two amino acids from one or more of the fusion proteins. 

Activation of endothelial cell muscarinic receptors by acetylcholine (Ach) releases endothelium-derived relaxing factor (nitric oxide), which causes relaxation of vascular smooth muscle precontracted with norepinephrine, 10-8M. Removal of the endothelium by rubbing eliminates the relaxant effect and reveals contraction caused by direct action of Ach on vascular smooth muscle. (NA, noradrenaline [norepinephrine]. Numbers indicate the log concentration applied at the time indicated.)... 

Cholinesterase inhibitors—but not direct-acting acetylcholine receptor agonists—are extremely valuable as therapy for myasthenia. Patients with ocular myasthenia may be treated with cholinesterase inhibitors alone (Figure 7-4B). Patients having more widespread muscle weakness are also treated with immunosuppressant drugs (steroids, cyclosporine, and azathioprine). In some patients, the thymus gland is removed very severely affected patients may benefit from administration of immunoglobulins and from plasmapheresis. 

D2-receptor blocker removes inhibition of acetylcholine neurons in enteric nervous system... 

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