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CELLULAR DISTRIBUTION OF 16S ACETYLCHOLINESTERASE
Author(s) -
Fernandez Hugo L.,
Duell Myron J.,
Festoff Barry W.
Publication year - 1979
Publication title -
journal of neurochemistry
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.75
H-Index - 229
eISSN - 1471-4159
pISSN - 0022-3042
DOI - 10.1111/j.1471-4159.1979.tb00387.x
Subject(s) - acetylcholinesterase , aché , spinal cord , anatomy , biology , sciatic nerve , motor nerve , motor neuron , sensory system , chemistry , neuroscience , enzyme , biochemistry
— Multiple molecular forms of acetylcholinesterase (AChE; EC 3.1.1.7), in crude extracts of various tissues from the rat, were distinguished by velocity sedimentation analysis on linear sucrose gradients. Skeletal muscle samples containing end‐plate regions showed three different forms of AChE with apparent sedimentation coefficients of 16, 10 and 4s. The 16s form was not detected in non‐innervated regions of skeletal muscle, large intestine smooth muscle, whole brain tissue, red blood cells or plasma. Spinal cord, a predominantly motor cranial nerve and mixed (sensory and motor) peripheral nerves contained 16, 10, 6.5 and 4S AChE. Ventral motor roots, supplying the sciatic nerve, contained these four forms of the enzyme, while corresponding dorsal sensory roots were devoid of the 16S form. The 16s‐AChE confined to ventral roots can be attributed totally to motor neurons and not to Schwann cells composing these roots. Whether the 16s‐AChE presently found in motor nerves has chemical identity with that found at motor end‐plates is the basis of future experiments.