Spatiotemporal relationship of embryonic cholinesterases with cell proliferation in chicken brain and eye.

Close relationships between acetylcholinesterase (AcChoEase; acetylcholine acetylhydrolase, true cholinesterase, EC, 3.1.1.7) and butyrylcholinesterase (BtChoEase, acylcholine acylhydrolase, pseudocholinesterase, EC, 3.1.1.8) with cell proliferation were observed in the early chicken brain. These include the following: BtChoEase is transiently accumulating in patchy fashion on the ventricular side of the neuroepithelium shortly before AcChoEase appears in cell bodies along the opposing mantle layer. The amount of BtChoEase in retina and brain is greatest in the early phase (E3-E5, or incubation periods of 3-5 days); in retina it decreases about 2 days later than in brain. However, AcChoEase expression increases with time, in inverse order to that of BtChoEase. In both tissues decrease of cell proliferation is closely followed by decrease in BtChoEase. A double-labeling technique of cholinesterase staining together with [3H]thymidine autoradiography reveals proliferation zones that are diffusely stained by BtChoEase but not by AcChoEase. Patches intensely stained for BtChoEase accompany clusters of cells in final stages of mitosis on their way to the differentiation zone, where they begin expressing AcChoEase. By applying different thymidine pulses, we identify an 11-hr lag from the last thymidine-uptake to full AcChoEase expression. (iv) These findings are confirmed by studying lens development, where areas of proliferation and differentiation are well separated. The spatiotemporal pattern of the transition of neuroblasts from a proliferating into a differentiating state correlates with the expression of BtChoEase just before and during mitosis and that of AcChoEase about 11 hr after mitosis. Thus cholinesterases could be involved in the regulation of this transition.