Comparative affinity chromatography of acetylcholinesterases from five vertebrate species.

The efficacy of N-methylacridinium affinity chromatography in the purification of acetylcholinesterases from chicken, rat, calf and human brain and from the electric organ of the electric fish Torpedo marmorata has been investigated. Retention of the enzymes on the N-methylacridinium columns exceeded 90% in all instances except for the chicken enzyme, where 40-80% retention was observed depending on the acridinium concentration. Sucrose density gradient centrifugation profiles revealed no difference between the distribution of molecular forms in the crude extracts and in the partially purified fractions eluted from the columns by decamethonium iodide.