Haverkamp L J, McManaman J L
Department of Neurology, Jerry Lewis Neuromuscular Disease Research Center, Wagner ALS Research Laboratory, Houston, Tex.
Dev Neurosci. 1990;12(6):406-12. doi: 10.1159/000111868.
Treatment of developing chick embryos with curare during the period of naturally occurring cell death is known to ameliorate the motoneuron loss which occurs at this time. Such treatment was found likewise to lead to an increase in levels of lumbar spinal cord choline acetyltransferase (ChAT), indicating that the levels of this enzyme may act as a marker for motoneuron number. Treatment after the cell death period also increased lumbar ChAT activity, suggesting that the neurotrophic effects resulting from curare treatment may also include the stimulation of motoneuron cholinergic differentiation.
已知在自然发生细胞死亡的时期，用箭毒处理发育中的鸡胚可改善此时发生的运动神经元损失。同样发现这种处理会导致腰脊髓胆碱乙酰转移酶（ChAT）水平升高，这表明该酶的水平可能作为运动神经元数量的标志物。在细胞死亡期之后进行处理也会增加腰段ChAT活性，这表明箭毒处理产生的神经营养作用可能还包括刺激运动神经元的胆碱能分化。
