title: Cholinergic properties of embryonic chick sensory neurons.
abstract: Experiments were carried out to determine the cholinergic properties of sensory neurons of the chick embryo by measuring the choline acetyltransferase activity (ChAT) and [3H]choline uptake. The choline acetyltransferase activity in the dorsal root ganglia of an 8-day-old chick embryo was 24.2 +/- 2.52, which increased to 45.4 +/- 9.69 pmol ACh/mg protein/min in the ganglia of 12-day-old embryos. Sensory neurons derived from dorsal root ganglia of 10-day-old embryos and maintained in a serum-free culture medium supplemented with insulin, transferrin and nerve growth factor (NGF) also contained significant amounts of ChAT (21.9 pmol ACh/mg protein/min). Omission of NGF resulted in neuronal death, and the enzyme activity could not be measured in these cultures. A specific inhibitor of ChAT, hydroxyethyl naphthylvinyl pyridine (NVP), when added to the assay mix produced a dose-dependent inhibition of ChAT from cultured neurons. Cultured sensory neurons incubated with [3H]choline followed by repeated washouts took up and retained [3H]choline. The uptake of [3H]choline was reduced by about 45% when NaCl, in the incubation medium, was replaced by LiCl. A specific inhibitor of choline uptake, hemicholinium-3, caused about 75% inhibition of [3H]choline uptake. It is implied that sensory neurons of the chick dorsal root ganglia express cholinergic properties during development.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacology, State University of New York, Brooklyn 11203.
authors.forename: S V
authors.initials: SV
authors.lastname: Bhave
authors.forename: A R
authors.initials: AR
authors.lastname: Wakade
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D002642:Chick Embryo; D002794:Choline / Q000493:pharmacokinetics*; D002795:Choline O-Acetyltransferase / Q000378:metabolism*; D002799:Cholinergic Fibers / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism*; D009414:Nerve Growth Factors / Q000494:pharmacology; D009475:Neurons, Afferent / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism*; D013116:Spinal Cord / Q000166:cytology* / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D009414:Nerve Growth Factors; D002795:Choline O-Acetyltransferase; D002794:Choline