Membrane-bound form of acetylcholinesterase activated during postnatal development of the rat somatosensory cortex.

We are interested in the expression of synapse-specific macromolecules and its correlation with the appearance of neuronal types and synaptogenesis during development of the mammalian brain. We report here studies showing that the appearance of acetylcholinesterase (AChE) at layer IV of the rat somatosensory cortex is correlated with the expression of a membrane-bound AChE. Both its electrophoretic mobility and its sedimentation coefficient remain unaltered during maturation; however, its kinetics parameters, the heat and fixative sensitivities and the substrate inhibition changed through development. Our results suggest that an adult form of membrane-bound AChE is expressed postnatally.