Acrylamide neuropathy and changes in the axonal transport and muscular content of the molecular forms of acetylcholinesterase.

Acetylcholinesterase (AChE) is present in nervous and muscular tissues of normal chickens in four main molecular forms (G1, G2, G4, and A12), distinguishable by sedimentation analysis. In the sciatic nerve of acrylamide-poisoned chickens, the anterograde axonal transport of A12 AChE was reduced by 60%, and that of G4 by 21%, compared to control values whereas the slow axoplasmic transport of G1 and G2 was unaffected. Regarding the leg muscles, only the tibialis anterior revealed dramatic alterations in the distribution of it AChE forms coinciding with a large reduction in the number of nerve endings. In acrylamide poisoning, the AChE molecular forms were considered as very sensitive markers of both axonal transport phases and of the innervation state. Our results support the hypothesis that a defect in the fast axonal transport of proteins might be involved in the degeneration process of the disease.