High affinity choline uptake: an early index of cholinergic innervation in rat brain.

The uptake of [3H]choline was investigated in nuclei-free homogenates or crude synaptosomal fractions (P2) from rat brain under various stages of development. A comparable sensitivity of uptake to treatment by hyposmotic shock suggested the involvement of synaptosomal populations in choline uptake in immature as well as in adult brains. However, significant changes in the "apparent" Km for the high affinity transport system and quantitative differences in the Na ion requirement for maximal uptake at 0.43 muM choline concentration were found during development; facts which suggested a greater contribution of the low affinity system in the more immature brains. Assuming that the uptake with high and low sensitivity to Na+ reduction reflected that via the high and low affinity system reslectively, we have attempted to obtain real Km values for the high affinity system. These Km values changed less than those measured directly, suggesting that the affinity constant for the high affinity system does not change during development. On these assumptions, the developmental changes of cholinergic synaptogenesis were examined in 5 distinct regions of the brain. It was found that the synaptogenesis begins several days earlier than the increase of choline acetyltransferase (ChAc) level in the frontal cortex, the hippocampus, the superior colliculus and the cerebellum. These regions may be included among the terminal-rich regions according to available evidence related to cholinergic systems. On the other hand, synaptogenesis accompanied the concomitant ChAc increase in the striatum, where the cholinergic interneurons are present. It is concluded that the increase of ChAc in the terminal-rich regions is delayed by the axoplasmic flow; therefore, the earlier index of cholinergic synaptogenesis in these regions is the high affinity uptake activity rather than the enzyme activity.