Detection of choline‐acetyltransferase activity in lymphocytes

Abstract

The cholinergic system takes part in the immune-neuroendocrine integration. Lymphocytes have been found to express muscarinic and nicotinic cholinergic receptors, as well as acetylcholine-esterase on their surface, and cholinergic agents modulate immune functions in vitro and in vivo. In the present study we provide evidence that purified organ resident and circulating lymphocytes, as well as various lymphoid cell lines derived from different species, exhibit choline-acetyltransferase activity and, therefore, have the potential to produce the neurotransmitter acetylcholine.

Choline Acetyltransferase (ChAT) Immunoreactivity in Paraffin Sections of Normal and Diseased Intestines

“…The localization of ChAT IR in the submucosal and myenteric plexi is consistent with other reports that employed immunocytochemistry on whole mounts (Furness et al 1984(Furness et al ,1985Schemann et al 1993Schemann et al ,1995Mann et al 1995), including studies that successfully used 1.B3.9B3 (Schemann et al 1993(Schemann et al ,1995. In addition, ChAT IR and activity in endothelia of various tissues have been previously described (Parnavelas et al 1985;Gonzalez and Santos-Benito 1987;Milner et al 1989), and there are reports of ChAT in epithelial cells (Grando et al 1993;Sakuragawa et al 1997) and lymphocytes (Rinner and Schauenstein 1993).…”

“…Furthermore, studies in experimental animals suggest that neurotransmitter metabolism might be affected by the inflammatory process (Collins et al 1989Swain et al 1991Swain et al ,1992. It has even been suggested that cholinergic nerves may participate in the interrelationship between the autonomic nervous system and the immune system (Rinner and Schauenstein 1993). Such studies demonstrate the importance of looking at specific populations of nerves in researching gastrointestinal disorders.…”

Localization and synthesis of acetylcholine in human leukemic T cell lines

“…This is consistent with the findings of Rinner and Schauenstein (1993), who reported that ChAT activity is present in several human leukemic cell lines, using the method of Fonnum (1975). BrACh, a selective ChAT inhibitor, inhibited the ACh-synthesizing activity of MOLT-3, HSB-2, and CEM by about 50% at 100 pM.…”

“…In addition, differential sensitivity of ACh-synthesizing activity was demonstrated between MNL and the bovine striatum using bromoacetylcholine (BrACh), a selective inhibitor of ChAT (Kajiyama et al, 1992). Recently, Rinner and Schauenstein (1993) reported the presence of ChAT activity in lymphocytes.…”

Pilocarpine-induced changes in the saccharide composition of the tectorial membrane and interdental cells of the organ of Corti: a study with gold-labeled lectins.

“…Therefore, under physiological conditions acetylcholine might modulate the turnover of the TM in the normal adult animal. Since nerve endings have never been observed in contact with the IDCs, acetylcholine could reach the IDC by diffusion either from cholinergic fibers innervating the blood vessels, as happens in other systems (Kawashima et al, 1989(Kawashima et al, ,1990Arneric et al, 1988;Parnavelas et al, 1985;Hamel et al, 1987), or directly from the acetylcholine pool present in the blood plasma (Rinner and Schauenstein, 1993;Kawashima et al, 1989). However, for this hypothesis to be valid, the existence of muscarinic receptors on the membrane of the IDCs must be demonstrated.…”