Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UMLS:C0011570 (depression)
 172,036 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

The effect of changing extracellular pH (pHe) on the spontaneous activity of neurons in brain slices taken from the ventral layer of the rat medulla oblongata was compared to the response of neurons in dorsal slices. In the ventral medulla, more than 50% of the neurons were excited by H+. These neurons were found just lateral to the pyramidal tract between the root of the hypoglossal nerve and the trapezoid body. In the dorsal medulla, low pHe caused an inhibition of activity in most neurons, although a few were excited. The fact that H+ elicted excitation predominantly in the ventral medullary substrate to respond to pHe changes. Depression of synaptic transmission within the neuronal network in the slice by reducing the [Ca2+]e and increasing the [Mg2+]e altered the nature of responses of neurons to H+: In the ventral medulla, the majority of neurons were inhibited by H+, whereas in the dorsal medulla more than 50% of neurons were excited. Therefore, "specificity" of the ventral medullary neurons seemed to be dependent upon intact synaptic connections. A possible role of acetylcholine-acetylcholinesterase system in the response of ventral medullary neurons to H+ is discussed.
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PMID:Effect of H+ on spontaneous neuronal activity in the surface layer of the rat medulla oblongata in vitro. 2 40

1. In the posterior half of the pulvinar of cats anaesthetized with halothane and nitrous oxide, the majority of neurons were fired by ACh released with small electrophoretic currents. In the anterior part of that nucleus, ACh had more variable effects: excitation, depression or none. 2. In comparison with L-glutamate, DL-homocysteic acid and DL-aspartic acid, ACh appeared to be the most potent excitant. 3. ACh-induced discharges were easily and reversibly blocked by low doses of atropine. In most cases, ACh effects could not be blocked selectively by mecamylamine or dihydro-beta-erythroidine. 4. Nicotine failed to mimic ACh, whereas carbachol was a potent excitant and was readily blocked by low doses of atropine. 5. The histochemical reaction to acetylcholinesterase was moderate in the pulvinar. 6. These observations support the view that pulvinar cells differ from other thalamic cells.
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PMID:Micro-electrophoretic studies in the cat pulvinar region: effect of acetylcholine. 2 59

The understanding of the effects of cannabinoids in human subjects has been obscured by a lack of knowledge about how the various active principles from marijuana act at the cellular level in the brain. For this reason the present study was undertaken to determine the effects of cannabinoids on the enzymes associated with the synaptic membranes. Electron micrographic analysis was performed to determine the purity of synaptic membrane preparations from rat brain, and subsequently such preparations were subjected to additions of ethanol, Tween-80, 80% glycerol, and either delta-tetrahydrocannabinol, 11-hydroxy-delta-tetrahydrocannabinol, or cannabinol. Both sodium and potassium activated ATPase (Na, K-ATPase), and Mg-ATPase were measured as the micrometer orthophosphate (P) released per minute per microgram membrane protein and these specific activities of the enzymes expressed as absolute values and as the percentage depression brought about by the cannabinoids. The ATPase spcific activities are taken from the rate curve over a 30-min incubation time. Additionally, synaptic membrane acetylcholineesterase specific activity was measured by continuous rate enzyme assay. While as low as 10 M delta-tetrahydrocannabinol showed appreciable decrements in both the membrane-bound ATPases, the other cannabinoids did not show such a great depression in enzyme activity. The specific activity of acetylcholinesterase, which is weakly bound to the membrane, showed only slight or no changes in activity with the various cannabinoids. It was additionally shown that the cannabinoids, delta-tetrahydrocannabinol in particular, bound to the synaptic membranes almost irreversibly in the in vitro system, and that the vehicle for dissolving the cannabinoids, while used as background control values when calculating the percentage decrements in enzyme specific activity, did vary the effects on the ATPase enzymes in particular. These data are discussed in relation to psychotomimetic activity of the cannabinoids.
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PMID:Effects of cannabinoids on synaptic membrane enzymes. I. In vitro studies on synaptic membranes isolated from rat brain. 14 40

Acetylcholinesterase (AChE) was measured in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) of patients with a diagnosis of Huntington's disease, depression, schizophrenia, or mania and also in the CSF of normal subjects. No significant differences in CSF AChE were found between any diagnostic group and normal subjects. Furthermore, the administration of choline chloride, physostigmine, or probenecid did not significantly alter CSF AChE. No diurnal variation in CSF AChE activity was apparent. These findings, combined with the unclear relationship of brain AChE to CSF AChE, suggest that this measurement does not reflect the relative cholinergic underactivity presumed to exist in some neuropsychiatric conditions.
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PMID:Cerebrospinal fluid acetylcholinesterase in neuropsychiatric disorders. 15 94

1. Local conductance changes produced by various bath-applied agonists at frog end-plate membrane were measured using focal recording of extracellular potential in voltage-clamped muscle fibres. The potential difference between a focal micropipette placed on the nerve terminal and another micro-pipette placed on or near inactive membrane was taken as proportional to the agonist-induced current through a small patch of an end-plate membrane. 2. The current-voltage (I--V) relation of active membrane was obtained directly by increasing the membrane potential in a ramp fashion. The change in membrane potential was slow enough for post-synaptic gating processes to reach equilibrium during the ramp. 3. During application of sufficiently low concentrations of full agonists (carbachol, (ACh) and partial agonists (choline and decamethonium) the I--V relation of end-plate membrane showed strong curvature in the range of -60 to -130 mV. The slope of I--V relations increased exponentially with membrane hyperpolarization, an e-fold change in conductance occurring for about 50 mV potential shift. 4. The curvature of the I--V relation of end-plate-membrane activated by the partial agonists choline and decamethonium became less as the agonist concentration was increased, and with high concentrations (choline 15 mM; decamethonium 250 micrometer) the I--V relation became almost straight. 5. When end-plate currents produced by high concentrations of partial agonists were matched by application of equi-active concentrations of carbachol, the carbachol-activated membrane still showed as much curvature in its I--V relation as when low concentrations of carbachol were used. 6. Choline and decamethonium concentrations for which the I--V relation was straight produced much greater depression of miniature end-plate currents than did carbachol concentrations which produced the same membrane current at the holding potential. 7. I--V relations for full agonists at high concentrations were obtained after alpha-bungarotoxin pre-treatment. During application of carbachol (400--500 micrometer) and ACh (30--40 micrometer; after complete inhibition of acetylcholinesterase activity) the I--V relation of end-plate membrane is much less curved than during application of low concentrations. 8. It is concluded that either the voltage sensitivity of agonist-induced end-plate conductance reflects voltage sensitivity of agonist binding, or the partial agonists used can exert a voltage-dependent 'local anaesthetic' action in addition to their agonist activity.
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PMID:A comparison of current-voltage relations for full and partial agonists. 30 43

The mechanism of anti-nicotinic actions of hexamethonium, mecamylamine and adenosine was investigated in guinea pig isolated ileum. Mecamylamine shifted the dose-response curves for nicotine to the right with a gradual depression. On the other hand, hexamethonium shifted the curves to the right without a depression and adenosine made only a gradual depression, suggesting the different modes of their antinicotinic actions. The transmurally-stimulated twitch response was unaffected, partially inhibited and abolis hed by hexamethonium, mecamylamine and adenosine, respectively. These three compounds also had little effect on direct muscle response to acetylcholine and on the acetylcholinesterase activity of the ileum. From these results, it is suggested that the antagonism to the effect of nicotine shown by mecamylamine does not appear to be a simple competitive blockade of ganglionic receptors as is the case with hexamethonium and that adenosine may antagonize the effect of nicotine non-competitively. The mechanism by which mecamylamine and adenosine showed anti-nicotinic action is discussed.
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PMID:Comparative studies on anti-nicotinic action of hexamethonium, mecamylamine and adenosine in the guinea pig isolated ileum. 59 56

Acetyl- and butyryl-cholinesterase activities have been measured biochemically in normal brain tissue, in senile dementia of Alzheimer type and in mental disorders without Alzheimer-type abnormalities. Acetylcholinesterase was significantly reduced and butyrylcholinesterase significantly increased, compared with the normal, in the hippocampus and temporal cortex of the Alzheimer cases. No significant enzyme changes were seen in the other diseases investigated including multi-infarct dementia, schizophrenia and depression. There was no correlation between age and acetylcholinesterase activity, but a significant positive correlation between the butyrylcholinesterase activities with increasing age (60-90 years) was found in the hippocampus. The possible connection between cholinergic system pathology and these cholinesterase abnormalities in Alzheimer dementia is discussed.
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PMID:Changes in brain cholinesterases in senile dementia of Alzheimer type. 70 27

Necropsy brain tissue from normal (control) patients and patients with depression and dementia was examined for activities of various cholinergic components, and these related to the degree of senile plaque formation and extent of intellectual impairment. Choline acetyltransferase and acetylcholinesterase activities decreased significantly as the mean plaque count rose, and in depressed and demented subjects the reduction in choline acetyltransferase activity correlated with the extent of intellectual impairment as measured by a memory information test; muscarinic cholinergic receptor binding activity remained unchanged with increasing senile plaque formation but butyrylcholinesterase activity increased. The results suggest a close relation between changes in the cholinergic system and Alzheimer's dementia, but the precise role of the system in this disease remains to be elucidated.
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PMID:Correlation of cholinergic abnormalities with senile plaques and mental test scores in senile dementia. 71 62

In order to determine whether bladder dysfunction and hydronephrosis in diabetic Chinese hamsters are associated with nerve pathology, the pelvic visceral nerves of diabetic and normal hamsters were examined with histochemical and electron microscopic techniques. Acetylcholinesterase activity was reduced in the nerves and on smooth muscle fibers in the urinary bladder of diabetic hamsters when compared to controls. Depression of enzyme staining was most marked in those hamsters with the most severe hydronephrosis. Frequent examples of aberrant myelination were found in the pelvic plexus and urinary bladder of diabetics. Many of these myelinated fibers exhibited wide periaxonal spaces lined by unusual processes of Schwann cells. An increase in the number of microtubules in axons and circular profiles of Schwann cells, which failed to enclose axons, gave evidence of axonal degeneration or Schwann cell injury in diabetic nerves. These findings suggest that pathologic changes in pelvic visceral nerves may underlie urinary bladder dysfunction in the diabetic Chinese hamster.
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PMID:Abnormalities in pelvic visceral nerves. A basis for neurogenic bladder in the diabetic Chinese hamster. 90 13

Pancuronium causes a powerful and highly selective inhibition of human serum cholinesterase in vitro. The inhibition was studied in serum from 14 individuals of both sexes (5-60 years of age) with normal reactions to suxamethonium. Pancuronium, in a concentration of 2.3 x 10(-7) M, caused a 50% inhibition of the enzymatic hydrolysis of acetylcholine, when this substrate was present in a concentration of 10 x 10(-3) M. The same I50 value was also found for a commercial preparation of human serum cholinesterase. The inhibition was reversible and competitive in type. Pancuronium inhibition of the acetylcholinesterase in human red blood cells and from the electric eel was more than one thousand times weaker. Thus pancuronium is one of the most selective inhibitors of serum cholinesterase described so far. The in vivo activity of the serum cholinesterase in four patients receiving pancuronium 0.1 mg/kg decreased, during the first 3 min, by 60-80%, from the pre-induction value. After this a slow recovery occurred with 40% depression remaining at 45 min after the injection. The tachycardia produced by pancuronium may be related to this selective inhibition of serum cholinesterase. It is suggested that relaxants which selectively inhibit serum cholinesterase also selectively block the cardiac muscarinic receptors.
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PMID:The inhibition of cholinesterases by pancuronium. 119 83


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