Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences and Technologies (DiSTeBA), University of Salento, Lecce, Italy.
Biomed Res Int. 2013;2013:321213. doi: 10.1155/2013/321213. Epub 2013 Jul 11.
Acetylcholinesterase (AChE) is a key enzyme in the nervous system. It terminates nerve impulses by catalysing the hydrolysis of neurotransmitter acetylcholine. As a specific molecular target of organophosphate and carbamate pesticides, acetylcholinesterase activity and its inhibition has been early recognized to be a human biological marker of pesticide poisoning. Measurement of AChE inhibition has been increasingly used in the last two decades as a biomarker of effect on nervous system following exposure to organophosphate and carbamate pesticides in occupational and environmental medicine. The success of this biomarker arises from the fact that it meets a number of characteristics necessary for the successful application of a biological response as biomarker in human biomonitoring: the response is easy to measure, it shows a dose-dependent behavior to pollutant exposure, it is sensitive, and it exhibits a link to health adverse effects. The aim of this work is to review and discuss the recent findings about acetylcholinesterase, including its sensitivity to other pollutants and the expression of different splice variants. These insights open new perspective for the future use of this biomarker in environmental and occupational human health monitoring.
乙酰胆碱酯酶（AChE）是神经系统中的一种关键酶。它通过催化神经递质乙酰胆碱的水解来终止神经冲动。作为有机磷和氨基甲酸酯类农药的特定分子靶标，乙酰胆碱酯酶活性及其抑制作用很早就被认为是农药中毒的人体生物标志物。在过去的二十年中，AChE 抑制的测量已被越来越多地用作职业和环境医学中接触有机磷和氨基甲酸酯类农药后对神经系统影响的效应生物标志物。这个生物标志物的成功源于这样一个事实，即它满足了将生物反应作为生物标志物成功应用于人体监测的一些必要特征：该反应易于测量，它表现出对污染物暴露的剂量依赖性行为，具有敏感性，并且与健康不良影响相关联。这项工作的目的是综述和讨论最近关于乙酰胆碱酯酶的发现，包括其对其他污染物的敏感性和不同剪接变异体的表达。这些新的认识为未来在环境和职业人群健康监测中使用这种生物标志物提供了新的视角。
