Reactivation kinetics of 31 structurally different bispyridinium oximes with organophosphate-inhibited human butyrylcholinesterase

Organophosphorus compounds (OP) are bound to human butyrylcholinesterase (BChE) and endogenous or exogenous BChE may act as a stoichiometric scavenger. Adequate amounts of BChE are required to minimize toxic OP effects. Simultaneous administration of BChE and oximes may transfer the enzyme into a pseudo-catalytic scavenger. The present study was initiated to determine the reactivation kinetics of 31 structurally different bispyridinium oximes with paraoxon-, tabun- and cyclosarin-inhibited human BChE. Human plasma was incubated with OP and the reactivation of inhibited BChE was tested with multiple oxime concentrations followed by nonlinear regression analysis for the determination of reactivity, affinity and overall reactivation constants. The generated data indicate that the tested oximes have a low-to-negligible reactivating potency with paraoxon- and tabun-inhibited human BChE. Several oximes showed a moderate-to-high potency with cyclosarin-inhibited BChE. Thus, the present study indicates that bispyridinium oximes are obviously not suitable to serve as reactivators of human BChE inhibited by different OP and it is doubtful whether further modifications of the bispyridinium template will lead to more potent reactivators. In the end, novel structures of oxime and non-oxime reactivators are urgently needed for the development of human BChE into an effective pseudo-catalytic scavenger.