Coordinate expression of vesicular acetylcholine transporter and choline acetyltransferase in sympathetic superior cervical neurones

The neurotransmitter acetylcholine is synthesized by choline acetyltransferase (ChAT) and transported into synaptic vesicles by the vesicular acetylcholine transporter (VAChT). Recently it has been reported that the entire coding region of VAChT mRNA is located in the first intron of the ChAT gene. In this study, ChAT and VAChT mRNAs were analysed in cultured sympathetic neurones. Cholinergic differentiation factor/leukaemia inhibitory factor and ciliary neurotrophic factor induced strong expression of ChAT and VAChT mRNAs in parallel. RT-PCR analysis of ChAT mRNAs revealed that five types of ChAT transcripts which differed in the 5’ non coding regions were increased. RT-PCR analysis of VAChT mRNA indicated that the cytokines induced only VAChT mRNA species which did not contain the R-exon, and not those containing the R-exon. The results indicate that ChAT and VAChT expressions are coordinately but differentially regulated in cultured sympathetic neurones.