Monomeric amphiphilic forms of acetylcholinesterase appear early during brain development and may correspond to biosynthetic precursors of the amphiphilic G 4 forms

Abstract

We have studied the development of mouse brain acetylcholinesterase (AChE). Only tetrameric (G 4) and monomeric (G 1) forms were detected both in vivo and in vitro. The amphiphilic G 4 form increased continuously during development, whereas an amphiphilic G 1 form appears transiently around embryonic day 17. A causal relationship between the monomers and tetramers was established using pulse-chase experiments with paraoxon, a reversible AChE inhibitor. We report here, for the first time, the presence of an amphiphilic monomer possibly involved in the assembly of the amphiphilic G 4 AChE form during mouse brain development.