Blood acetylcholinesterase and butyrylcholinesterase as biomarkers of cholinesterase depression among pesticide handlers

Details

• Alternative Title:
  Occup Environ Med
• Personal Author:
  Strelitz, Jean ; Engel, Lawrence S. ; Keifer, Matthew C.
• Description:
  Objective
  
  Agricultural pesticide handlers are at an elevated risk for overexposure to organophosphate (OP) pesticides, but symptoms can be difficult to recognize, making biomarkers invaluable for diagnosis. Occupational monitoring programs for cholinesterase depression generally rely on measuring activity of either of two common blood cholinesterases which serve as proxy measurements for nervous-system acetylcholinesterase activity: red blood cell acetylcholinesterase (AChE) and plasma butyrylcholinesterase (BChE). These biomarkers, however, may be affected differentially by some OPs and the relationship between them has not been well characterized. We aim to determine the association between blood acetylcholinesterase (AChE) and butyrylcholinesterase (BChE) activity levels and assess whether they produce comparable classifications of clinical cholinesterase depression among organophosphate pesticide handlers.
  
  Methods
  
  Using blood samples from 215 participants of the Washington State Cholinesterase Monitoring Program, we quantified changes in AChE and BChE activity from before and after exposure to OP pesticides and calculated Pearson correlation statistics for correlation of AChE and BChE changes in activity, as well as weighted Kappa statistics for agreement of classification of clinical cholinesterase depression based on AChE versus BChE measurements.
  
  Results
  
  AChE and BChE activity measurements are weakly negatively correlated in our study population. Reaching a clinical threshold for diagnosis of cholinesterase depression based on the AChE marker did not correlate with reaching clinical depression based on the BChE marker.
  
  Conclusions
  
  Both AChE and BChE should be measured in monitoring programs because they may both give potentially important but disparate classifications of clinical cholinesterase depression.
  
  
• Subjects:
  Acetylcholinesterase Adolescent Adult Agriculture Article Biological Markers Butyrylcholinesterase Cholinesterase Inhibitors Depression Depressive Disorder Female Humans Insecticides Male Middle Aged Occupational Diseases Occupational Exposure Organophosphate Toxicity Organophosphorus Compounds Washington Young Adult

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• Source:
  Occup Environ Med. 71(12):842-847.
• Pubmed ID:
  25189163
• Pubmed Central ID:
  PMC4224972
• Document Type:
  Journal Article
• Funding:
  5T32ES007018-37/ES/NIEHS NIH HHS/United States ; ES009883/ES/NIEHS NIH HHS/United States ; P30 ES007033/ES/NIEHS NIH HHS/United States ; P30ES07033/ES/NIEHS NIH HHS/United States ; P42ES04696/ES/NIEHS NIH HHS/United States ; T32 ES007018/ES/NIEHS NIH HHS/United States ; T32ES07262/ES/NIEHS NIH HHS/United States ; T42OH008433/OH/NIOSH CDC HHS/United States ; U50OH07544/OH/NIOSH CDC HHS/United States
• Volume:
  71
• Issue:
  12
• Collection(s):
  CDC Public Access
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha256:b7e83042d140bccc65f615543c9f582f3f8cab1bea9218c2c34a94dafdadace2
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/30167/cdc_30167_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 231.38 KB ]