Dietary restriction regulates brain acetylcholinesterase in female mice as a function of age

In the present study, the normal endogenous activity level of acetylcholinesterase (AChE) was investigated in cerebral hemispheres and cerebellum of female mice as a function of age. The effects of 24-h fasting and refeeding, and dietary restriction (DR) on AChE activity and its protein expression patterns were also investigated in young (1-month) and old (18-month) mice. Our results show that the activity (U/mg protein) and level of AChE protein in the cerebral hemispheres of young mice is decreased significantly on 24-h fasting which reverses back on refeeding. On the other hand, DR produces an accumulative effect; thereby it decreases the activity of this enzyme in the cerebral hemispheres of both the young and old mice and the degree of reduction is of different magnitude, dictated in an age- and brain region-specific manner. Our findings suggest that DR regulates the activity of this enzyme which may be useful in related neurodegenerative disease conditions.