Neurotrophic control of 16S acetylcholinesterase from mammalian skeletal muscle in organ culture.

The effects of rat obturator nerve extracts on total and 16S acetylcholinesterase (AChE) activity were studied in endplate regions of denervated anterior gracilis muscles maintained in organ culture for 48 hr. The decrease of total AChE activity in cultured muscles was similar to that observed in denervated muscles in vivo. This decrease in activity was partly prevented by addition of either 100 or 200 microliters nerve extract (2.7 mg/ml protein) to the nutrient medium. Nerve extract treatment also decreased the release of AChE activity from the muscle into the bathing medium. Conversely, rat serum (20 microliters: 90 mg/ml protein) had no effect on total AChE activity in muscle endplates, nor on release of the enzyme by the muscle. The 16S form of AChE was confined to motor endplate muscle regions and its activity was drastically decreased by denervation in both organ culture and in vivo preparations in a comparable manner. Nerve-extract supplemented cultures contained a significantly (p < 0.001) larger amount of endplate 16S AChE activity (140--145%) than the corresponding controls (100%). Our results suggest that some nerve soluble substance, other than serum contaminants or 16S AChE itself, affects the maintenance of 16S AChE at the neuromuscular junction.