Folic acid effects on the acetyl cholinesterase activities in different tissues of a rat

Abstract

Various studies have shown that the serum concentration of folic acid is inversely related to the serum homocysteine concentration. In addition, data suggest that increases in serum homocysteine levels decrease the activity of acetyl cholinesterase (AChE). The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of acute folic acid treatment on AChE activity in the brain, heart and the blood of a rat. We used male Wistar rats, with a body mass of 250-300 g divided into two categories: a control group given placebo (1 ml 0.9% NaCl, i.p. n1=6) and an experimental group treated with folic acid (1 ml 0.011 μmol/g per body mass, pH 7.4, i.p., n2=6). Sixty minutes after the treatment, the rats were decapitated. The brain and the heart were removed, and blood was taken. The brain and heart were homogenised in phosphate buffer pH 8 (1 ml buff er/20 mg tissue). Th e homogenised tissues and blood were used as a substrate for the spectrophotometric analysis, and enzyme activity was measured in vitro by the Ellman method. Rats treated with folic acid showed significantly reduced AChE activity in the brain and blood compared to the control group (38% and 82%, respectively). We did not observe a significant difference between the enzyme activity in the blood of treated versus untreated rats. In conclusion, this study shows that acute treatment with folic acid decreases the AChE activity in the brain and heart of rats without affecting the AChE activity in the blood.