Abstract
Summary
The choline esterase activity of the whole gastrocnemic muscle (TChE) in rats was found to be reduced by approximately one-third after denervation and in nutritional muscular dystrophy. It was slightly lowered after repeated injections of high doses of prostigmine and after adrenalectomy. Single injections of high doses of prostigmine had no such effect.
Thymectomy, thyroidectomy, parathyroidectomy, and castration had no effect on the TChE of the rat gastrocnemius.
The TChE of the muse, obliqu. inf. Oculi in a patient who died from myasthenia gravis was found to be only half as high as that of the lowest in a series of 12 controls. It was not possible to decide whether or not all of this reduction of the enzyme activity was an effect of prostigmine treatment. The ChE activity in the muscle of a patient dying from hyperthyroidism was within the range of the controls.
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