Origin and significance of acetylcholine and choline in plasma and serum from normal and paretic cows

Research-overview article: membrane lipolysis and cholinergic priority

Cholinergic drugs and antigenic and toxicological challenges induced lipolysis in twelve sheep. A lipolytic end product, the PGF2alpha metabolite, was found to be a reliable non-specific cholinergic marker. The lipolytic membrane alterations supported the concept of a general priority of the cholinergic system. A main feature is the breaking of molecular stability in dynamic hydrogen-bond interactions. Both acetylcholine and dioxygen reactivity are apparently moderated by cholinesterases. Free radicals appeared to be normal intermediates of catabolism, serving to neutralize excess protons. Antioxidants regenerate molecular oxygen, and so counteract part of excess activated oxygen. Intrinsic reactivity against its own structures characterizes the immuno-cholinergic system. Genetic priority could be assumed for cholinergic constituents and constitutions. A broad spectrum of etiologies was suggested. Lasting or repeated challenges may cause heterochiral conversions of vital proteins. The priority aspect of cholinergism also suggested methods to rank among the multitude of secondary biomolecules.

Physical bioenergetics of degradation-resistant proteins in diseases and aging

The characteristics of degradation-resistant proteins (prions) suggested a primary physical and then bioenergetic conversion by a fundamental chiral change in one or a few amino acids. The insolubility of heterochiral proteins (chirons) results in protein dysfunction. These inert proteins are logically neither contagious or transmissible, nor of genetic nature. Conformational species of chirons will arise by varied position and kind of converted amino acid(s). Cellular damage will depend on intensity and duration of activity in the cholinergic and immune systems, which are characterized by very high localization specificity and genetic variability. The long-term pathological changes will be general shrinking, sclerotizing and wasting as in AIDS and aging. The impaired immune function and the continuous gene activation may result in proliferation and tumorigenesis. Comparison between infections revealed possible routes of transmission and pathophysiology in spongifom encephalopathies in man and animals. Also, a plausible epidemiology was suggested for these diseases in ruminants (BSE and scrapie) in the UK. Preventive and therapeutic measures are briefly discussed. The headlines of the present concept were naturally related to basic conditions of life given by quantum physics, intrinsic membrane entropy and the dimension of time.