Acetylcholine in Sweat in Fibrocystic Disease of the Pancreas

Abstract

THE varied secretory abnormalities in fibrocystic disease of the pancreas in which elevated sweat electrolytes and deficient pancreatic enzymes are linked to viscid mucus glycoproteins and increased parotid secretory rate suggest an underlying mechanism of overstimulation of exocrine glands with cholinergic innervation^1–6. Roberts⁵ further hypothesizes that excessive exocrine gland stimulation might result should acetylcholine (ACH), released at secretory nerve endings, persist owing to defective enzymic breakdown by cholinesterase, or, alternatively, to excessive quantities released. It seemed to us that a stimulating neurohumor not completely inactivated at its site of release might be found in the secretion of the gland it stimulates. Thus we examined sweat, a secretion abnormal in fibrocystic disease, for evidence of any characteristic neurohumoral activity. We have found in thermal sweat well-defined levels of a free choline-ester indistinguishable from acetylcholine. The activity was detected in sweat samples from normal individuals as well, but appeared to be of a significantly higher order in the fibrocystic.