title: Protection of human muscle acetylcholinesterase from soman by pyridostigmine bromide.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Pretreatment with pyridostigmine bromide (PB) of human intercostal muscle fibers exposed to the irreversible acetylcholinesterase (AChE) inhibitor soman was investigated.
  
  
  METHODS
  Muscles were pretreated with 3 × 10(-6) M PB or saline for 20 minutes, then exposed to 10(-7) M soman for 10 minutes.
  
  
  RESULTS
  AChE of muscles treated with soman alone was inhibited >95%. In contrast, PB pretreatment of soman-exposed bundles protected 20% of AChE activity. AChE of bundles exposed to PB alone recovered after 4 hours, but bundles exposed to both PB and soman did not. Soman-induced reduction of resting membrane potentials and increment of amplitudes and decay times of miniature endplate potentials (MEPPs) were partially corrected by PB pretreatment.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In vitro pretreatment of human muscles with PB protected up to 20% of muscle AChE and ameliorated some deleterious effects on endplate physiology induced by soman.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, University of California Davis, Davis, California, USA.
authors.forename: Ricardo A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Maselli
authors.forename: John D
authors.initials: JD
authors.lastname: Henderson
authors.forename: Jarae
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Ng
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Follette
authors.forename: Gregory
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Graves
authors.forename: Barry W
authors.initials: BW
authors.lastname: Wilson
mesh_terms: D000110:Acetylcholinesterase / Q000378:metabolism; D002800:Cholinesterase Inhibitors / Q000494:pharmacology*; D004305:Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; D006801:Humans; D007366:Intercostal Muscles / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000201:enzymology*; D009924:Organ Culture Techniques; D020011:Protective Agents / Q000494:pharmacology; D011729:Pyridostigmine Bromide / Q000494:pharmacology*; D012999:Soman / Q000633:toxicity*
chemical_list: D002800:Cholinesterase Inhibitors; D020011:Protective Agents; D012999:Soman; D000110:Acetylcholinesterase; D011729:Pyridostigmine Bromide