Selective Butyrylcholinesterase Inhibition Elevates Brain Acetylcholine, Augments Learning and Lowers Alzheimer β-Amyloid Peptide in Rodent

• Published in: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences - PNAS Vol. 102; no. 47; pp. 17213 - 17218
• Main Authors: Greig, Nigel H., Utsuki, Tadanobu, Ingram, Donald K., Wang, Yue, Pepeu, Giancarlo, Carla Scali, Yu, Qian-Sheng, Jacek Mamczarz, Harold W. Holloway, Tony Giordano, De Mao Chen, Furukawa, Katsutoshi, Sambamurti, Kumar, Brossi, Arnold, Lahiri, Debomoy K.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States National Academy of Sciences 22.11.2005; National Acad Sciences
• Subjects: Acetylcholine - metabolism; Alzheimer Disease - drug therapy; Alzheimer Disease - enzymology; Amyloid beta-Peptides - genetics; Amyloid beta-Peptides - metabolism; Amyloid beta-Protein Precursor - metabolism; Animals; Behavioral neuroscience; Biological Sciences; Blood plasma; Brain; Brain - drug effects; Brain - enzymology; Brain - metabolism; Butyrylcholinesterase - metabolism; Cholinergics; Cholinesterase Inhibitors - administration & dosage; Cholinesterase Inhibitors - pharmacology; Dosage; Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; Hippocampus - drug effects; Hippocampus - enzymology; Humans; Learning - drug effects; Long term potentiation; Male; Memory; Mice; Mice, Transgenic; Neuroblastoma - drug therapy; Neuroblastoma - enzymology; Neurons; Pain; Rats; Rats, Inbred F344; Rats, Sprague-Dawley; Rats, Wistar; Serine - administration & dosage; Serine - analogs & derivatives; Serine - pharmacology; Tumor Cells, Cultured
• ISSN: 0027-8424; 1091-6490
• DOI: 10.1073/pnas.0508575102

Like acetylcholinesterase, butyrylcholinesterase (BChE) inactivates the neurotransmitter acetylcholine (ACh) and is hence a viable therapeutic target in Alzheimer's disease, which is characterized by a cholinergic deficit. Potent, reversible, and brain-targeted BChE inhibitors (cymserine analogs) were developed based on binding domain structures to help elucidate the role of this enzyme in the central nervous system. In rats, cymserine analogs caused long-term inhibition of brain BChE and elevated extracellular ACh levels, without inhibitory effects on acetylcholinesterase. In rat brain slices, selective BChE inhibition augmented long-term potentiation. These compounds also improved the cognitive performance (maze navigation) of aged rats. In cultured human SK-N-SH neuroblastoma cells, intra- and extracellular β-amyloid precursor protein, and secreted β-amyloid peptide levels were reduced without affecting cell viability. Treatment of transgenic mice that over-expressed human mutant amyloid precursor protein also resulted in lower β-amyloid peptide brain levels than controls. Selective, reversible inhibition of brain BChE may represent a treatment for Alzheimer's disease, improving cognition and modulating neuropathological markers of the disease.