Spectroscopic Determination of Acetylcholine (ACh): A Representative Review

Abstract

Acetylcholine (ACh) is one of the most crucial neurotransmitters of the cholinergic system found in vertebrates and invertebrates and is responsible for many processes in living organisms. Disturbances in ACh transmission are closely related to dementia in Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease. ACh in biological samples is most often determined using chromatographic techniques, radioenzymatic assays, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), or potentiometric methods. An alternative way to detect and determine acetylcholine is applying spectroscopic techniques, due to low limits of detection and quantification, which is not possible with the methods mentioned above. In this review article, we described a detailed overview of different spectroscopic methods used to determine ACh with a collection of validation parameters as a perspective tool for routine analysis, especially in basic research on animal models on central nervous system. In addition, there is a discussion of examples of other biological materials from clinical and preclinical studies to give the whole spectrum of spectroscopic methods application. Descriptions of the developed chemical sensors, as well as the use of flow technology, were also presented. It is worth emphasizing the inclusion in the article of multi-component analysis referring to other neurotransmitters, as well as the description of the tested biological samples and extraction procedures. The motivation to use spectroscopic techniques to conduct this type of analysis and future perspectives in this field are briefly discussed. Graphical Abstract

Synthesis, Molecular Docking, and Biological Evaluation of Novel Anthranilic Acid Hybrid and Its Diamides as Antispasmodics

“…The utilization of an SM preparation from the corpus of a rat stomach that had been pharmacologically pre-contracted was the main goal of our work. The excitatory neurotransmitter acetylcholine (ACh) in the enteric nervous system is appropriate for this purpose [ 65 ]. It affects the digestive system by increasing the amplitude of digestive contractions and peristalsis in the stomach.…”

ECG-based estimation of respiration-induced autonomic modulation of AV nodal conduction during atrial fibrillation

“…Furthermore, ultrasound-guided microneurography was proposed to obtain in vivo recordings from the human vagus nerve ( Ottaviani et al, 2020 ) and results from analysis of intraneural recordings from cervical nerve in awake humans suggest that cardiac and respiration-induced autonomic modulation during normal sinus rhythm can be identified ( Patros et al, 2022 ). Another possibility would be indirect quantification of respiration-induced autonomic modulation via acetylcholine concentration ( Świt et al, 2023 ), but we are not aware of any procedure or method that would produce the required time resolution.…”

Cholinergic Mechanisms in Gastrointestinal Neoplasia

“…ACh can be measured using chromatographic methods, such as high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), a frequently used method of quantifying ACh in biological samples, which separates ACh from other soluble components based on molecular size [41,42]. Mass spectrometry (MS) can be paired with LC to identify ACh based on the charge and mass of individual particles [43].…”

“…Microdialysis is commonly used to investigate ACh signaling by measuring the release of ACh into the extracellular fluid. Dialysates recovered after perfusion of living tissue can be analyzed using radioenzymatic, immunological, or spectroscopic assays [41]. Although microdialysis probes are larger than synaptic clefts, they can be used to measure extrasynaptic ACh.…”