Sub-chronic Treatment with Dichlorvos in Young Rats Promotes Synaptic Plasticity and Learning by a Mechanism that Involves Acylpeptide Hydrolase Instead of Acetylcholinesterase Inhibition. Correlation with Endogenous β-Amyloid Levels.

Acylpeptide hydrolase (APEH) is a serine hydrolase that displays two catalytic activities, acting both as an exopeptidase toward short -acylated peptides and as an endopeptidase toward oxidized peptides or proteins. It has been demonstrated that this enzyme can degrade monomers, dimers, and trimers of the Aβ peptide in the conditioned media of neuroblastoma cells. In a previous report, we showed that the specific inhibition of this enzyme by the organophosphate molecule dichlorvos (DDVP) triggers an enhancement of long-term potentiation in rat hippocampal slices.