Acetylcholinesterase Levels in Brains of Rabbits Infected with Trypanosoma brucei brucei: A Preliminary Study

Humans infected with African trypanosomes develop severe neurological and neuropsychiatric disturbances during the terminal stages of the disease (Lambo, 1966; WHO report, 1985) and the mechanisms causing these disturbances are not known. Currently, much attention is focused on the possible biochemical basis for these disturbances (Tanowitz et al., 1981, 1983; Brennessel et al., 1985). These investigators reported that some alterations of enzyme activity in the central nervous system may play a role in the pathogenesis. Acetylcholinesterase (AChE) is an enzyme found in the cholinergic synapses and neuromuscular junctions of various mammalian tissues. We postulate that AChE levels in infected brains of rabbits with Trvpanosoma brucei brucei may be directly or indirectly related to cerebral symptoms in animals and possibly humans. Thus, the objective of this investigation was to study AChE activity in the brains of rabbits infected with T. brucei brucei.