Acetylcholinesterase And Apoptosis Related Research

Acetylcholinesterase (AChE) plays a key role in terminatingneurotransmission at cholinergic synapses. AChE is also found intissues devoid of cholinergic responses, indicating its potentialfunction beyond neurotransmission. It has been suggested that AChEmay participate in development, differentiation, and pathogenicprocesses such as Alzheimer s disease and tumorigenesis. Weexamined AChE expression in a number of cell lines upon induction ofapoptosis by various stimuli. AChE is induced in all apoptotic cellsexamined as determined by cytochemical staining, immunologicalanalysis, affinity chromatography purification, and molecularcloning. The AChE protein was found in the cytoplasm at theinitiation of apoptosis and then in the nucleus or apoptotic bodiesupon commitment to cell death. Sequence analysis revealed that AChEexpressed in apoptotic cells is identical to the synapse type AChE.Furthermore, blocking the expression of AChE with antisense inhibitedapoptosis. Therefore, our studies demonstrate that AChE ispotentially a marker and a regulator of apoptosis.