Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
Pivot Concepts: Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound   Target Concepts: Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound

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Query: EC:3.1.1.8 (cholinesterase)
12,691 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Primary sequences of cholinesterases and related proteins have been systematically compared. The cholinesterase-like domain of these proteins, about 500 amino acids, may fulfill a catalytic and a structural function. We identified an aspartic acid residue that is conserved among esterases and lipases (Asp-397 in Torpedo acetylcholinesterase) but that had not been considered to be involved in the catalytic mechanism. Site-directed mutagenesis demonstrated that this residue is necessary for activity. Analysis of evolutionary relationships shows that the noncatalytic members of the family do not constitute a separate subgroup, suggesting that loss of catalytic activity occurred independently on several occasions, probably from bifunctional molecules. Cholinesterases may thus be involved in cell-cell interactions in addition to the hydrolysis of acetylcholine. This would explain their specific expression in well-defined territories during embryogenesis before the formation of cholinergic synapses and their presence in noncholinergic tissues.
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PMID:Cholinesterase-like domains in enzymes and structural proteins: functional and evolutionary relationships and identification of a catalytically essential aspartic acid. 186 88

The histidine residue essential for the catalytic activity of pancreatic cholesterol esterase (carboxylester lipase) has been identified in this study using sequence comparison and site-specific mutagenesis techniques. In the first approach, comparison of the primary structure of rat pancreatic cholesterol esterase with that of acetylcholinesterase and cholinesterase revealed two conserved histidine residues located at positions 420 and 435. The sequence in the region around histidine 420 is quite different between the three enzymes. However, histidine 435 is located in a 22-amino acid domain that is 47% homologous with other serine esterases. Based on this sequence homology, it was hypothesized that histidine 435 is the histidine residue essential for catalytic activity of cholesterol esterase. The role of His435 in the catalytic activity of pancreatic cholesterol esterase was then studied by the site-specific mutagenesis technique. Substitution of the histidine in position 435 with glutamine, arginine, alanine, serine, or aspartic acid abolished the ability of cholesterol esterase to hydrolyze p-nitrophenyl butyrate and cholesterol [14C]oleate. In contrast, mutagenesis of the histidine residue at position 420 to glutamine had no effect on cholesterol esterase enzyme activity. The results of this study strongly suggested that histidine 435 may be a component of the catalytic triad of pancreatic cholesterol esterase.
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PMID:Site-specific mutagenesis of an essential histidine residue in pancreatic cholesterol esterase. 199 99

People with genetic variants of cholinesterase respond abnormally to succinylcholine, experiencing substantial prolongation of muscle paralysis with apnea rather than the usual 2-6 min. The structure of usual cholinesterase has been determined including the complete amino acid and nucleotide sequence. This has allowed identification of altered amino acids and nucleotides. The variant most frequently found in patients who respond abnormally to succinylcholine is atypical cholinesterase, which occurs in homozygous form in 1 out of 3500 Caucasians. Atypical cholinesterase has a single substitution at nucleotide 209 which changes aspartic acid 70 to glycine. This suggests that Asp 70 is part of the anionic site, and that the absence of this negatively charged amino acid explains the reduced affinity of atypical cholinesterase for positively charged substrates and inhibitors. The clinical consequence of reduced affinity for succinylcholine is that none of the succinylcholine is hydrolyzed in blood and a large overdose reaches the nerve-muscle junction where it causes prolonged muscle paralysis. Silent cholinesterase has a frame shift mutation at glycine 117 which prematurely terminates protein synthesis and yields no active enzyme. The K variant, named in honor of W. Kalow, has threonine in place of alanine 539. The K variant is associated with 33% lower activity. All variants arise from a single locus as there is only one gene for human cholinesterase (EC 3.1.1.8). Comparison of amino acid sequences of esterases and proteases shows that cholinesterase belongs to a new family of serine esterases which is different from the serine proteases.
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PMID:Genetic variants of human serum cholinesterase influence metabolism of the muscle relaxant succinylcholine. 219 56

The present investigation revealed the effect of the organochlorine insecticide dieldrin at the dose level 0.25 LD50 at different time intervals on the concentration of 11 rat brain amino acids, on the activities of glutamic oxyacetic transaminase (GOT), glutamic pyruvic transaminase (GpT) and cholinesterase. The study was also extended to include the total protein content during the tested periods. The daily injection of dieldrin caused a marked decrease in the levels of glutamic acid, glutamine and taurine and an increase in the levels of aspartic acid, asparagine, GABA, glycine, lysine, serine, alanine and histidine. However, the maximal increase and decrease were recorded for most of the tested amino acids at the end of the tested period. The activity of the transaminases increased significantly. The recorded values of GOT were usually higher than GPT. Cholinesterase activity was inhibited thoroughly during all the experimental periods. Total protein content was decreased in the experiment; the minimal value was given 3 days after the injection.
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PMID:Effect of dieldrin injection on the level of certain amino acids and some enzymes in rat brain. 287 4

In continuation of previous studies, the intraarterial fusion of L-glutamic acid for 24 hr was found to oppose the decrease in acetylcholinesterase and butyrylcholinesterase in the superior cervical ganglion of the cat that otherwise occurs 48 hr after preganglionic denervation. The combination of glutamic acid and gamma-aminobutyric acid, in concentrations that were inactive individually, likewise produced the same neurotrophic effect. Inactive in this respect were glycine plus L-glutamine, pyroglutamic acid, gamma-aminobutyric acid, and L-aspartic acid. The possible mechanisms and implications of these findings are discussed.
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PMID:L-glutamic acid, a neurotrophic factor for maintenance of acetylcholinesterase and butyrylcholinesterase in the preganglionically denervated superior cervical ganglion of the cat. 345 34

The intralaminar distributions of transmitter and nontransmitter enzyme activities and amino acid levels were determined in the midtemporal cortices from normal individuals and established cases of Alzheimer's disease. In the normal, choline acetyltransferase (CAT) and acetylcholinesterase (AChE) activities were relatively high in the outer cortical layers, particularly, for CAT, in the two granular layers (II and IV). Both activities were reduced in Alzheimer's disease at all, although generally most extensively in the outer and middle layers of the grey matter whereas activities were near normal in the white matter. Further, the enzyme distribution patterns of these cholinergic activities were also disrupted in Alzheimer's disease and the activity of CAT throughout the cortex was generally reduced to that found in the white matter. No such differences in distribution were found for two other enzymes, pseudocholinesterase and lactate dehydrogenase. Assessment of the gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) system in the normal revealed a much more extensive intralaminar variation in the enzyme, glutamate decarboxylase, compared with the level of GABA itself. In contrast with the cholinergic enzymes, neither the levels nor intralaminar patterns of GABA were altered in Alzheimer's disease. From an analysis of free amino acids at the different cortical levels, the cortical pattern of glutamic acid in the normal was different from that for GABA, aspartic acid, or nontransmitter amino acids such as alanine. Neither of the putative amino acids, glutamate or aspartate, was altered in Alzheimer's disease. These findings demonstrate the relatively selective nature of microchemical changes occurring in the cortex in Alzheimer's disease and suggest that a functional abnormality in cholinergic input to the outer neocortical layers (I-IV) with predominantly receptive and associative functions may be an important feature of the disease.
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PMID:Intralaminar neurochemical distributions in human midtemporal cortex: comparison between Alzheimer's disease and the normal. 614 24

Nutritional status, assessed by anthropometric and biochemical methods, protein and amino-acid (AA) composition and muscle water were evaluated in 11 kidney transplanted children and in a control group of 10 children with normal renal function who were undergoing elective surgery. Samples of the rectus abdominis muscle were taken when surgery was performed in the control children and when the peritoneal catheter was removed in the transplanted children. The mean time from the transplantation to the study time was 97 +/- 14 days (range 72-114 days). Height was reduced in the transplanted children compared to the controls but skinfold thickness, arm muscle circumference and serum proteins (total protein, albumin, transferrin, pseudocholinesterase) were normal. The body mass index was over the 50 degree percentile in nine of the eleven children. The muscle contents of total, extracellular, and intracellular water, alkali-soluble protein (ASP), DNA and the ASP/DNA ratio were not significantly different in transplanted children from those in the controls. Plasma leucine and taurine levels were significantly decreased, whereas plasma citrulline and alanine levels and the glycine/serine ratio were increased. Muscle threonine, alanine+taurine, glycine and aspartic acid levels as well as the glycine/serine ratio were increased in the transplanted children. Transplanted children show an almost normal muscle AA profile and a plasma AA pattern that seems to be related to the prednisone therapy.
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PMID:Muscle and plasma amino acids and nutritional status in kidney-transplanted children. 770 64

The acidic amino acid residue required for the catalytic activity of rat pancreatic cholesterol esterase has been identified in this study by sequence comparison with other serine esterases and by site-directed mutagenesis experiments. The sequence comparison studies identified 3 acidic residues in homologous domains between cholesterol esterase, acetylcholinesterase, cholinesterase, and Geotrichum candida lipase that may potentially be the catalytic acidic residue in these proteins. The role of Glu78, Asp79, and Asp320 in the catalytic activity of rat cholesterol esterase was then addressed by mutagenesis and expression of the cDNA. Results showed that replacement of Glu78 or Asp79 with alanine has no effect on the ability of the cholesterol esterase to hydrolyze the artificial water-soluble substrate p-nitrophenyl butyrate. In contrast, the Asp320-->Ala320 substitution abolished the enzyme activity of the cholesterol esterase. The specific requirement of Asp320 for optimal enzyme activity was demonstrated by substitution of the aspartic acid with glutamic acid, thus retaining the charge unit at this position. The Asp320-->Glu320 substitution resulted in an enzyme that displayed normal interaction with bile salt. However, catalytic activity of this mutagenized protein was reduced by approximately 50%. These results strongly suggested that aspartic acid 320 is an important component of the catalytic triad of pancreatic cholesterol esterase. The specific requirement of aspartic acid, instead of glutamic acid, for optimal activity is different from that of other members of the serine esterase gene family.
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PMID:Aspartic acid 320 is required for optimal activity of rat pancreatic cholesterol esterase. 841 37

Paraoxon (O,O-diethyl O-p-nitrophenyl phosphate) is the neurotoxic metabolite of the insecticide parathion (O,O-diethyl O-p-nitrophenyl phosphorothioate). The effects of organophosphorus compounds on peripheral synapses have been attributed to inhibition of cholinesterase and to direct actions on muscarinic and nicotinic receptors, but less is known about the actions of organophosphorus compounds, including paraoxon, in the central nervous system. We investigated initially the effects of paraoxon on spontaneous transmitter release by recording miniature postsynaptic currents (MPSCs) from cultured rat hippocampal neurons using the whole-cell mode of the patch-clamp technique. Paraoxon (0.3 microM) in the presence of tetrodotoxin (0.3 microM) and atropine (1 microM) caused a significant increase in the frequency of gamma-aminobutyric acid- and glutamate-mediated MPSCs, but did not change the peak amplitudes or decay-time constants of these MPSCs. In contrast, application of nicotinic agonists or antagonists did not change the MPSC frequency. The presynaptic effect of paraoxon shown here was not mediated by actions on muscarinic or nicotinic receptors, or by elevated acetylcholine levels secondary to inhibition of cholinesterase. In addition, agonists were applied to assess the postsynaptic effects of paraoxon on excitatory and inhibitory amino acid receptors. Paraoxon (30 microM-1 mM) blocked the ion channels of glycine, gamma-aminobutyric acidA, N-methyl-D-aspartic acid and nicotinic acetylcholine receptors, but not the ion channels of kalnate- and alpha-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4-isoxazolepropionic acid-type glutamate receptors. The combined effects of paraoxon on spontaneous transmitter release and on the functions of several ligand-gated receptors may constitute mechanisms relevant to the neurotoxicity of paraoxon.
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PMID:Paraoxon: cholinesterase-independent stimulation of transmitter release and selective block of ligand-gated ion channels in cultured hippocampal neurons. 881

Acetylcholinesterase is well known to have noncholinergic functions. Only recently, however, has the salient part been identified of the molecule responsible for these nonclassical actions, a peptide of 14 amino acids towards the C-terminus of acetylcholinesterase. The aim of this study was to test the bioactivity of this 'acetylcholinesterase-peptide' using intracellular recordings in guinea-pig hippocampal slices. In the presence of tetrodotoxin, acetylcholinesterase-peptide alone affected neither the membrane potential nor the input resistance of CA1 neurons; however, a modulatory action was observed, as a concentration-dependent decrease of N-methyl-d-aspartic acid-induced depolarization. When calcium potentials were elicited by a depolarizing current pulse, application of acetylcholinesterase-peptide increased or reduced the degree of calcium spike firing in, respectively, the presence or absence of the N-methyl-d-aspartic acid antagonist d(-)-2-amino-5-phosphonopentanoic acid. In contrast, a peptide derived from the equivalent region of butyrylcholinesterase, which also hydrolyses acetylcholine, had no effect. In conclusion, acetylcholinesterase-peptide has a selective bioactivity in the hippocampus; it could thus offer new ways of targeting mechanisms of calcium-induced neurotoxicity.
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PMID:Bioactivity of a peptide derived from acetylcholinesterase: electrophysiological characterization in guinea-pig hippocampus. 1275


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