Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
Pivot Concepts:   Target Concepts:
Query: EC:3.1.1.7 (acetylcholinesterase)
 28,390 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

It has been postulated that behavioral inhibition due to punishment or extinction may be mediated by brain acetylcholine, and drugs which have disinhibitory action are thought to interact with this system. This notion was tested by comparing the effects of scopolamine, physostigmine and chlordiazepoxide on punished and extinguished water consumption. Scopolamine hydrobromide (0.3, 0.5 mg/kg, i.p.), a centrally and peripherally acting antimuscarinic agent and physostigmine sulfate, (0.3 mg/kg, i.p.), a centrally and peripherally acting acetylcholinesterase inhibitor, lowered both non-punished and punishment suppressed water intake and lick rate, whereas their quaternary analogs which primarily act in the periphery, had no significant effect at comparable dose levels. Scopolamine and physostigmine suppressed punished water consumption at lower dose levels than nonpunished intake. In contrast, chlordiazepoxide (5.0, 10.0, 20.0 mg/kg, i.p.) enhanced punished as well as non-punished water intake. In a further experiment comparing punishment and extinction suppression, scopolamine and physostigmine did not affect punished or extinguished water intake; chlordiazepoxide (5.0, 10.0, 20.0 mg/kg) reliably increased punished, but not extinguished licking on the water nozzle. These results suggest (1) that scopolamine and chlordiazepoxide do not act via a common mechanism, and (2) that punishment and extinction suppression are not a pharmacological entity.
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PMID:Effects of scopolamine, physostigmine and chlordiazepoxide on punished and extinguished water consumption in rats. 116 84

Bilateral olfactory bulbectomy produced the increased tendency of mouse-killing behavior in nonkiller rats (60% on the 14th day after surgery). Scopolamine hydrobromide (4 and 8 mg/kg, IP) significantly suppressed the killing response in a dose-dependent manner, whereas methylscopolamine nitrate was ineffective. In order to investigate a possible neural mechanisms, choline acetyltransferase (CAT) and acetylcholinesterase (ACh-E) activities were measured in 7 discrete brain areas: cortex, amygdala, hypothalamus, thalamus, tegmentum, hippocampus, and pons plus medulla oblongata. Although the central anticholinergic drug suppressed mouse-killing, no significant difference in either CAT and ACh-E activities was found between the killer and nonkiller rats in any of the brain areas determined in this study. The evidence suggests that the neurochemical findings may not fit the pharmacological findings for supporting a unified cholinergic hypothesis for mouse-killing behavior.
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PMID:Regional changes in brain cholinergic enzyme activities after bilateral olfactory bulbectomy in relation to mouse-killing behavior by rats. 719 71