In vitro neurotoxic esterase assay using leptophos oxon analogs as inhibitors.

In comparing neurotoxic esterase (NTE) inhibition properties of a series of phenylphosphonates, it was discovered that certain compounds including leptophos inhibited mipafox-insensitive phenylvalerate hydrolases. This leads to erroneous values for NTE inhibition which can be corrected by a differential assay: the total amount of mipafox-insensitive activity is determined with O-(2,6-dichlorophenyl)O-methyl phenylphosphonate and subtracted from the apparent NTE determined with the test compound before calculating pI50's.