Butyrylcholinesterase：Its Function and Inhibitors

Two types of cholinesterases (ChEs) are found in the mammalian brain: acetylcholinesterase (AChE) and butyrylcholinesterase (BuChE). They are products of two different genes and exhibit different localizations and kinetic properties. Until recently, the function of BuChE and its role in the regulation of acetylcholine levels in the central nervous system have been largely unknown. There is now evidence that BuChE plays a vital role in the brain cholinergic system, and that it may have a key role in the development of Alzheimer's disease. Butyrylcholinesterase: Its Function and Inhibitors is for neurologists, psychiatrists, geriatricians and neuroscientists who want a full profile of BuChE.

Ezio Giacobini MD, is Adjunct Professor, Institutions Universitaires de Geriatrie de Geneve Thonex-Geneve, Switzerland. The editor started to work in the field of cholinesterases in 1954. In 1959 he published his PhD Thesis at the Karolinska Institute, Stockholm with the title: Distribution and Localization of Cholinesterases in Nerve Cells Acta Physiol. Scand vol.45.suppl.156. 1959). Since then the author has continued to work on this topic and as of year 1998 has authored over 300 papers on this subject. He has edited Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology: Plasticity and Regeneration of the Nervous System (Plenum 1991), Alzheimer Disease: from Molecular Biology to Therapy (Birkhauser 1996), Alzheimer's Disease: Current Research in Early Diagnosis (Taylor & Francis 1990), Alzheimer's Disease: Therapeutic Strategies (Birkhauser 1994), Cholinergic Basis for Alzheimer Therapy (Birkhauser 1991), Cholinesterases and Cholinesetrase Inhibitors: Basic, Preclinical and Clinical Concepts (Dunitz 2000), Current Research (Taylor & Francis 1988).