Acetylcholinesterase
From Proteopedia
[Article by Clifford Felder, Structural Biology, Weizmann Institute] THIS PAGE IS **UNDER CONSTRUCTION**, PLEASE BE PATIENT UNTIL IT IS COMPLETED!
The increasing longevity of people's lifespans, and the resulting increased prevelance of dementias such as Alzheimers Syndrome, led scientists to study the animal enzyme AcetylCholinEsterase (AChE) as a possible culprit. This enzyme rapidly degrades the neurotransmitter acetylcholine in synapses (junctions between nerve cells) of cholinergic nerve pathways into acetic acid and choline, to turn off the chemical signal for the nerve to fire. Should something happen to deactivate or kill this vital enzyme, nervous paralysis of vital functions occurs, leading to rapid death. Although AChE is apparently not the cause of Alzheimers, it does seem to play a minor role, in that weak inibitory drugs such as Tacrine, E2020 (Aricept) and the natural Chinese natural produce Huperzine appear to delay symptoms. Furthermore, this enzyme is a key target of some very important nerve gasses and related insecticides. Furthermore, it is a pretty fascinating enzyme to study.
Selected structures
- 2ace This is a prime example of...
PDBs containing acetylcholinesterase
Proteopedia Page Contributors and Editors (what is this?)
Michal Harel, Joel L. Sussman, Alexander Berchansky, David Canner, Eran Hodis, Clifford Felder, Jaime Prilusky, Harry Greenblatt, Yechun Xu
