Title: Denervation-induced alterations of acetylcholinesterase in denervated and nondenervated muscle Decker MM, Berman HA Ref: Experimental Neurology, 109:247, 1990 : PubMed
The influence of denervation on acetylcholinesterase (AchE) molecular forms in rat skeletal muscle for durations up to 30 days is examined in denervated anterior tibialis, the innervated contralateral muscle, and diaphragm. Denervated rats at a common age of 8.5 weeks are compared with age-matched, nondenervated animals. The results indicate that time-dependent losses of AchE in denervated muscle occur more rapidly than loss of muscle mass and are not uniform among the different molecular forms. Loss of the 4 S and 16 S forms is rapid and essentially complete within 3.5 days of denervation, while during this same period the 10.5 S form undergoes a transient twofold increase and its presence in denervated muscle is never abolished. Within 30 days of denervation, all forms of AchE including the 16 S species reappear. A salient finding of these studies is that the effects of denervation are evident also in anatomically remote, innervated muscle such as anterior tibialis of the contralateral limb and in diaphragm. These alterations appear as pronounced reductions in 4 S AchE and increases in 10.5 S AchE; the asymmetric collagen-tailed 16 S form is unaltered. Treatment of primary cultures of embryonic chick pectoral muscle with sera from denervated but not nondenervated rat causes reductions in AchE. These results indicate that the appearance and retention of AchE, in particular the 16 S form, occur in the absence of functional innervation. The effects of denervation on AchE metabolism in remote, innervated tissue are consistent with the action of a diffusible factor released from severed nerve or muscle, or both.
        
Title: Chiral nature of covalent methylphosphonyl conjugates of acetylcholinesterase Berman HA, Decker MM Ref: Journal of Biological Chemistry, 264:3951, 1989 : PubMed
This paper examines the chiral nature of the covalent conjugates formed upon reaction of acetylcholinesterase (AchE) with enantiomeric cycloheptyl, isopropyl, and 3,3-dimethylbutyl methylphosphonyl thiocholines. With the exception of the conjugate formed from reaction of AchE with RP-cycloheptyl methylphosphonyl thiocholine, all enantiomeric conjugates underwent oxime reactivation at rates that were within 2-3-fold of each other. Oxime reactivation was, therefore, independent of both initial configuration about phosphorus and the alkyl phosphonyl ester (-OR) moiety. Aging of the enantiomeric cyclopheptyl and isopropyl methylphosphonyl conjugates occurred exclusively for the conjugate formed from the SP-enantiomer and therefore displayed an absolute dependence on the initial configuration of the methylphosphonyl group. Equilibrium titrations with decidium, a fluorescent bisquaternary competitive inhibitor of AchE, provided an index of aging and enantiomeric configuration of the conjugates independent of enzyme activity. Decidium association with the enantiomeric conjugates (prior to aging) showed no marked dependence on the initial configuration about phosphorus but was measurably dependent on nature of the -OR moiety. These results are interpreted with respect to symmetry and nonrigidity of the organophosphonyl conjugates and are consistent with formation of final methylphosphonyl conjugates that are enantiomerically pure and of opposite configuration. These studies indicate that the active center of AchE comprises at least two kinetically distinct environments separate from the esteratic region but located within 5 A of the nucleophilic serine and differing in dipolar characteristics that promote charge separation and general acid catalysis.
        
Title: Reciprocal regulation of acetylcholinesterase and butyrylcholinesterase in mammalian skeletal muscle Berman HA, Decker MM, Jo S Ref: Developmental Biology, 120:154, 1987 : PubMed
Developmental regulation, from the fetal period to 11 months of age, and the influence of denervation on the appearance and disappearance of the molecular forms of acetylcholinesterase (AchE) and butyrylcholinesterase (BuchE) in rat skeletal muscle were examined. The enzyme forms were extracted from anterior tibialis in 0.01 M sodium phosphate buffer, pH 7.0, containing 1 N NaCl, 0.01 M EGTA, 1% Triton X-100, and a cocktail of antiproteases, and analyzed by velocity sedimentation on 5-20% linear sucrose gradients. Three principal forms, denoted by sedimentation coefficients of 4, 10.8, and 16 S, were observed in muscle from all age groups. The amounts of each of the molecular forms of AchE and BuchE in skeletal muscle exhibited distinct and reciprocal patterns of appearance and disappearance during pre- and postnatal development. In tissue derived from animals less than 2 weeks of age, BuchE represented the predominant component of activity in the 4 S form, was present equally with AchE in the 10.8 S form, and was subordinate to AchE in the 16 S form. Between 1 and 2 weeks of age a progressive increase in AchE activities coincident with a reduction in BuchE activities resulted in inversion in the amounts of the two enzymes present in adult muscle. Denervation of muscle caused a dramatic reduction in the presence of AchE molecular forms with no discernable influence on the presence of BuchE molecular forms. These results indicate that biosynthesis of BuchE is strictly regulated in a reciprocal manner with that of AchE, and that BuchE metabolism is independent of the state of muscle innervation. Increased synthesis of AchE and either reduced synthesis or increased degradation of BuchE can account for the reciprocal regulation of these enzymes. These characteristics of mammalian muscle contrast sharply with characteristics deduced for avian tissue (Silman et al. (1979) Nature (London) 280, 160-162). The innervation-independent metabolism of BuchE and the diverse modes of its regulation in different tissue from different species signify that BuchE function may be unrelated to cholinergic neurotransmission.
The synthesis of decidium and hexidium diiodides, their spectroscopic properties, and association with acetylcholinesterase from Torpedo californica are described and compared with those for propidium. Decidium, hexidium, and propidium, bisquaternary analogs of the fluorescent phenanthridinium ligand ethidium, contain 10, 6, and 3 methylene carbons, respectively, interposed between the exocyclic and endocyclic quaternary nitrogens. The three ligands exhibit linear competitive inhibition of enzyme carbamylation by N-methyl-7-dimethylcarbamoxyquinolinium. Dissociation constants for decidium, hexidium, and propidium are found by direct fluorescence titration to be 2.1 +/- 0.2 X 10(-8), 5.8 +/- 1.4 X 10(-7), and 3.7 +/- 0.4 X 10(-6) M, values in close accord with the inhibition constants obtained from kinetic analyses. Association of the three ligands is characterized by a stoichiometry of one fluorescent ligand per 80-kDa molecular weight subunit and occurs with respective 6.5-, 4.5-, and 3-fold increases in both quantum yield and fluorescence lifetime. Decidium and hexidium, in marked contrast with propidium, are dissociated by ligands selective for the active center and undergo pronounced reduction in affinity upon modification of the active center with pyrenebutyl methylphosphonofluoridate. Whereas the kinetics reveal no clear distinctions in inhibitory action of the three ligands, the fluorescence studies indicate that the alkyltrimethylammonium moiety of decidium and hexidium occludes the active center; propidium, in contrast, associates solely with the peripheral anionic site and does not occlude the active center. The temperature dependence of binding indicates that decidium association engenders a substantial increase (+55 eu) in entropy. The data indicate that the active center and peripheral anionic sites are separated by a crevice which can accommodate the hydrocarbon portion of extended n-alkyl cationic ligands, thereby affording entropic stabilization of complex formation. This stabilization is realized, however, only when the anionic subsite of the active center is not occluded, enabling electrostatic interaction between cationic ligand and the anionic active center.
        
Title: Kinetic, equilibrium and spectroscopic studies on cation association at the active center of acetylcholinesterase: topographic distinction between trimethyl and trimethylammonium sites Berman HA, Decker MM Ref: Biochimica & Biophysica Acta, 872:125, 1986 : PubMed
This study examines the importance of electrostatic interactions on ligand association at the active center of acetylcholinesterase (acetylcholine acetylhydrolase, EC 3.1.1.7). The active-center serine was covalently modified with the dimensionally equivalent isosteric beta-(trimethylammonium)ethyl and 3,3-dimethylbutyl methylphosphonofluoridates. Reactivation of the 3,3-dimethylbutyl methylphosphono-conjugate by the bisquaternary mono-oxime HI-6, after accounting for the capacity for spontaneous reactivation, proceeded at a rate that was 20-fold greater than that for the cationic conjugate. Decidium, a fluorescent bisquaternary ligand that binds with its trimethylammonium moiety within the active center, exhibited affinity for the 3,3-dimethylbutyl conjugate that was within 2-fold that for the native enzyme, but 100-fold greater than for the cationic conjugate. Whereas association of n-alkyl mono- and bisquaternary ligands with the uncharged conjugate was virtually unaltered with respect to the native enzyme, the affinities of edrophonium, phenyltrimethylammonium and N-methylacridinium were reduced 100-fold for the uncharged conjugate relative to native enzyme. These results indicate that the orientations of the 3,3-dimethylbutyl and beta-(trimethylammonium)ethyl moieties with respect to the surface of the enzyme are not equivalent, that modification of the active center does not preclude cation association of active-center-selective ligands, and that aromatic cations associate at an anionic locus which is unique from that at which decidium and the n-alkyl mono- and bisquaternary cations associate. As such, the results point to the presence of a heterogeneity of cation binding sites within a circumscribed distance from the modified serine, and do not sustain the view proposed by Hasan et al. (J. Biol. Chem. 255 (1980) 3898-3904; 256, (1981) 7781-7785) that electrostatic interactions at the active center are subordinate to steric constraints imposed by a dimensionally restricted trimethyl site.
        
Title: Kinetic, equilibrium, and spectroscopic studies on dealkylation (aging) of alkyl organophosphonyl acetylcholinesterase. Electrostatic control of enzyme topography Berman HA, Decker MM Ref: Journal of Biological Chemistry, 261:10646, 1986 : PubMed
The mechanism of dealkylation ("aging") of branched-alkyl organophosphonyl conjugates of acetylcholinesterase and the consequence of this reaction on enzyme conformation were examined by employing kinetic, equilibrium, and spectroscopic techniques. Aging of cycloheptyl methylphosphono-acetylcholinesterase proceeded as a unimolecular reaction in which the enzyme became refractory to oxime reactivation and was accelerated with increases in temperature and decreases in pH and ionic strength of the medium. While aging occurred in a manner invariant with the nature of the salt in buffers containing Na+, K+, Rb+, Cs+, Cl-, CH3COO-, SO2-(4), and PO3-(4), the influence of ionic strength on aging was opposite to that predicted for a mechanism requiring charge separation during formation of the polar transition state. Examination of the equilibrium enzyme conformation with decidium, a fluorescent active center-selective ligand, revealed marked alterations in ligand association and a greater ionic strength dependence for binding after aging. The explanation for this behavior focuses on the high net negative surface charge of the enzyme and proposes that acetylcholinesterase topography is governed by the strength of electrostatic interactions between charged, contiguous, mobile protein regions within the subunit. As such, these studies reveal a reciprocal relationship between acetylcholinesterase topography, surface charge, and ionic strength of the medium.
        
Title: Fluorescent phosphonate labels for serine hydrolases. Kinetic and spectroscopic properties of (7-nitrobenz-2-oxa-1,3-diazole)aminoalkyl methylphosphonofluoridates and their conjugates with acetylcholinesterase molecular forms Berman HA, Olshefski DF, Gilbert M, Decker MM Ref: Journal of Biological Chemistry, 260:3462, 1985 : PubMed
The synthesis, kinetic, and spectral characterization of (7-nitrobenz-2-oxa-1,3-diazole)aminoethyl and (7-nitrobenz-2-oxa-1,3-diazole)aminopentyl methylphosphonofluoridate are described. These homologous organophosphorous agents contain the environmentally sensitive 7-nitrobenz-2-oxa-1,3-diazole chromophore. They inhibit acetylcholinesterase from Torpedo at rates exceeding 10(7) M-1 min-1 to form long-lived conjugates with one chromophore/80-kilodalton subunit. The intensity, position, and line width of the absorption spectra of the conjugates and reactivation kinetics in the presence and absence of the bisquaternary oxime 1,1'-trimethylene-bis(4-formylpyridinium bromide) dioxime indicate that these agents form conjugates in which the NBD-aminoalkyl moieties experience distinctive microscopic environments within the active center. NBD-aminoethyl methylphosphono-acetylcholinesterase undergoes oxime-induced as well as spontaneous reactivation at rates that are 3.6 and 35 times faster, respectively, than the corresponding rates measured for the NBD-aminopentyl conjugate. Hence, reactivation exhibits a marked dependence on structure of the methylphosphonate. Fluorescence emission at wavelengths greater than 520 nm is highly quenched and exhibits quantum efficiencies of less than 5%. Absorption maxima for the covalent NBD-aminoethyl methylphosphono-acetylcholinesterase appear at 475-480 nm while those for the corresponding NBD-aminopentyl methylphosphono-acetylcholinesterase appear at 485-490 nm. Bandwidths of the absorption maxima are substantially broader for the acetylcholinesterase adduct with NBD-aminoethyl methylphosphonofluoridate (3870 cm-1) than for the enzyme adduct with NBD-aminopentyl methylphosphonofluoridate (2870 cm-1). The CD spectrum of NBD-aminopentyl methylphosphono-acetylcholinesterase shows optical activity coincident with the shape and position of the absorption spectrum. In contrast, in addition to optically active transitions at the absorption maxima, the CD spectrum of NBD-aminoethyl methylphosphono-acetylcholinesterase shows intense optical activity at 430 nm, a wavelength region coincident with the region of spectral broadening. The spectral properties of alpha-chymotrypsin conjugates formed by reaction with the two probes are different, and the respective spectra differ also from those observed for the acetylcholinesterase conjugates. These results indicate that there is a reciprocal relationship between the structure of the probe and the structure of the active center.