I am working on the assay of brain acetylcholine. I need an irreversible inhibitor of cholinesterase that is relatively safer (not volatile, preferably solid) to use. This is to prevent the hydrolysis of acetylcholine during processing of brain tissue from dissection to freezing to pulverization and homogenization.
Thanks
Khawar Sohail Siddiqui
Eserine is safe to use as a AChE inhibition. Please access Ellman’s method “A new and rapid colorimetric determination of acetylcholinesterase activity’ 1961.
physostigmine (or eserine) is not an irreversible inhibitor. i guess the author is looking for a relatively safe irreversible organophosphate inhibitor, something along the lines of chlorpyrifos. unfortunately, i have no practical experience in which is the safest in the lab. but good question!
"Safe" and "irreversible AChE inhibitor" aren't really concepts that go well together. I've used DFP to inhibit cholinesterase activity, which has a safety feature--it can be inactivated prior to disposal (just keep adding concentrated NaOH until you don't see a color change).
Are you sure you need the inhibition to be irreversible? The standard protease inhibitor cocktails include nonspecific serine hydrolase inhibitors (e.g., NaF), so they should take out AChE.
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