The use of miotic drops in the treatment of accommodative strabismus is widely accepted, when there is present a higher than normal accommodative convergence/accommodation (AC/A) ratio. According to their pharmacological action, the miotics in current use fall into two groups-the anticholinesterases and the parasympathomimetics. Pilocarpine and Carbachol belong to the latter group, and while th...

The use of miotic drops in the treatment of accommodative strabismus is widely accepted, when there is present a higher than normal accommodative convergence/accommodation (AC/A) ratio. According to their pharmacological action, the miotics in current use fall into two groups-the anticholinesterases and the parasympathomimetics. Pilocarpine and Carbachol belong to the latter group, and while th...

The distal 2/3 of the opossum esophagus contains only smooth muscle. Manometry shows that the most distal 1-2 cm is the lower esophageal sphincter. We used a variety of agonists to seek differences between circular muscle from the sphincteric segment and more rostral levels. Isometric contractions of strips from the distal 6 cm were recorded in vitro in response to acetylcholine, carbachol, met...

Butyryl cholinesterase (BCHE) is a protein belonging to ester lipase super family. It hydrolyzes choline esters in addition to its role in nerve impulse transmission. BCHE has three active sites located at 226, 353 and 456 which are responsible for acyl ester intermediate, and charge relay system. Among the three sites, 226 (serine) have been reported to have the natural variant S 226 G. Altera...

Butyrylcholinesterase (BChE) is synthesized in the liver and found in high concentrations in blood plasma, liver, heart, pancreas, vascular endothelium, skin, brain white matter, smooth muscle cells and adipocytes. BChE is a non specific enzyme that hydrolyzes different choline esters (succinylcholine, mivacurium) and many other drugs such as aspirin, cocaine and procaine. The enzyme is also co...

Metabolomics is facing a major challenge: the lack of knowledge about metabolites present in a given biological system. Thus, large-scale discovery of metabolites is considered an essential step toward a better understanding of plant metabolism. We show here that the application of a metabolomics approach generating structural information for the analysis of Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) m...

Butyrylcholinesterase (BChE) is a plasma enzyme that catalyzes the hydrolysis of choline esters, including the muscle-relaxant succinylcholine and mivacurium. Patients who present sustained neuromuscular blockade after using succinylcholine usually carry BChE variants with reduced enzyme activity or an acquired BChE deficiency. We report here the molecular basis of the BCHE gene underlying the ...

Dicathais orbita is a mollusc of the Muricidae family and is well known for the production of the expensive dye Tyrian purple and its brominated precursors that have anticancer properties, in addition to choline esters with muscle-relaxing properties. However, the biosynthetic pathways that produce these secondary metabolites in D. orbita are not known. Illumina HiSeq 2000 transcriptome sequenc...

1. Strychnine sulfate 0.000069 M decreased percentage attachment to the substratum by Amoeba proteus in 0.0029 M NaCl from 77.3 to 1.3, in 0.0029 M KCl from 40.8 to 2.5, in 0.002 M CaCl(2) from 73.3 to 68.0, in 0.002 M MgCl(2) from 85.5 to 83.3. 2. Frequency of ingestion of chilomonads by Amoeba proteus is increased by adding strychnine sulfate to solutions of NaCl, KCl, or CaCl(2). Frequency o...

Environmental substances seem to be involved in the etiology of breast cancers. Many studies have found an association between human cancer and exposure to agricultural pesticides such as the organophosphorous pesticides. Parathion is a cholinesterase inhibitor that induces the hydrolysis of body choline esters, including acetylcholine at cholinergic synapses. The primary target of action in in...