Induction of neuronal functions: acetylcholine-induced acetylcholinesterase activity in mouse neuroblastoma cells

Addition of acetylcholine to growing cultures of mouse neuroblastoma cells induced a 37-fold increase in the specific activity of acetylcholinesterase (EC 3.1.1.7). Morphological changes, consisting of neurite-extensions, were also observed during the logarithmic phase of growth of cells stimulated with acetylcholine. A histochemical procedure for localization of acetylcholinesterase was used with the following results: (a) Cells differentiating by growth inhibition in serum-free medium do not stain positively for acetylcholinesterase, except when they have extended neurites, whereas all cells induced with acetylcholine, with or without neurites, stain positively for the enzyme. (b) The inverse relation between cell growth and induction of enzyme activity was demonstrated in nondividing cells at the center of a colony that do not incorporate thymidine into DNA and that stain positively for acetylcholinesterase, whereas actively dividing cells on the periphery of the colony do not stain for the enzyme. However, by addition of acetylcholine we were able to dissociate inhibition of cell growth from biochemical and morphological differentiation in mouse neuroblastoma cells.