Ethanol is one of the most commonly abused psychotropic substances with deleterious effects on the central nervous system. Ethanol exposure during development results in the loss of neurons in brain regions and when exposed to ethanol cultured cells undergo apoptosis. To date no information is available on whether abnormally high AChE activity is characteristic of apoptosis in animals exposed to ethanol. The aims of the present study were to determine whether induction of AChE activity is associated with ethanol-induced apoptosis and to explore the mechanism of enhanced AChE activity induced by ethanol. For this purpose, in vitro and in vivo experiments were performed. AChE activity was quantified by spectrophotometry and apoptosis by flow cytometer in SH-SY5Y cells exposed to ethanol. The results showed that cells treated with 500mM ethanol for 24h had a 9-fold increase in apoptotic cells and a 6-fold increase in AChE activity compared with controls. Mice exposed acutely to 200μl of 20% ethanol daily on days 1-4 had elevated AChE activity in plasma on days 3-7. On day 4, plasma AChE activity was 2.4-fold higher than pretreatment activity. More apoptotic cells were found in the brains of treated mice compared to controls. Cells in brain sections that were positive in the TUNEL assay stained for AChE activity. In conclusion, AChE activity and apoptosis were induced in SH-SY5Y cells and mice treated with ethanol, which may indicate that increased AChE may related to apoptosis induced by ethanol. Unusually high AChE activity may be an effect marker of exposure to ethanol. The relationship between AChE and apoptosis might represent a novel mechanism of ethanol-associated neuronal injury.

中文翻译：

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乙醇暴露SH-SY5Y细胞和小鼠乙酰胆碱酯酶活性及细胞凋亡的研究。

乙醇是最常被滥用的精神药物之一，对中枢神经系统有有害影响。在发育过程中暴露于乙醇会导致大脑区域神经元丢失，并且当暴露于乙醇时，培养的细胞会发生细胞凋亡。迄今为止，尚无关于异常高的 AChE 活性是否是暴露于乙醇的动物细胞凋亡的特征的信息。本研究的目的是确定 AChE 活性的诱导是否与乙醇诱导的细胞凋亡相关，并探讨乙醇诱导 AChE 活性增强的机制。为此，进行了体外和体内实验。在暴露于乙醇的 SH-SY5Y 细胞中，通过分光光度法和流式细胞仪对 AChE 活性进行定量和细胞凋亡。结果显示，与对照相比，用500mM乙醇处理24h的细胞凋亡细胞增加9倍，AChE活性增加6倍。在第 1-4 天每天急性暴露于 200μl 20% 乙醇的小鼠在第 3-7 天血浆中 AChE 活性升高。第 4 天，血浆 AChE 活性比治疗前活性高 2.4 倍。与对照组相比，在接受治疗的小鼠大脑中发现了更多的凋亡细胞。在 TUNEL 测定中呈阳性的脑切片中的细胞对 AChE 活性进行染色。总之，在用乙醇处理的 SH-SY5Y 细胞和小鼠中诱导 AChE 活性和细胞凋亡，这可能表明增加的 AChE 可能与乙醇诱导的细胞凋亡有关。异常高的 AChE 活性可能是暴露于乙醇的影响标志。