Neonatal enucleations reduce specific activity of acetylcholinesterase but not choline acetyltransferase in developing rat visual cortex

Infant rats were subjected to unilateral or bilateral enucleation or sham lesions on the day of birth. On postnatal day 13 or 14, tissue blocks from cortex were assayed for acetylcholinesterase (AChE) and choline acetyltransferase (ChAT). Bilateral enucleation resulted in a decrease in specific activity of AChE in occipital cortex, as compared with control animals. Unilateral enucleation resulted in a decrease of AChE activity in the hemisphere contralateral to the enucleated orbit. However, neither type of enucleation resulted in significant changes of ChAT specific activity. These data suggest that reductions in AChE activity resulting from neonatal enucleations are not due to a direct involvement of cholinergic afferents to visual cortex.