Serum regulation of acetylcholinesterase in cultured myotubes

A large (20S) collagen-tailed form of acetylcholinesterase associated with the neuromuscular junction appears in cultures of chick embryo muscle cells when horse serum is withdrawn from the medium. In this report, 10-day-old cultures were incubated 2 days in serum-free medium or in medium containing either horse, bovine, fetal calf, chicken, heat-treated horse or chicken serum, low (less than 100K) or high (less than 100K) molecular weight fractions of horse serum, or fibronectin. Total acetylcholinesterase activity and activity of the 20S form increased in medium without serum, with fetal calf serum and with the low-molecular-weight fraction of horse serum. The largest increase occurred with fibronectin. The results suggest that a factor(s) greater than 100K in adult sera inhibits total acetylcholinesterase production and formation of the 20S form of the enzyme.