Nature 206, 842 - 843 (22 May 1965); doi:10.1038/206842a0

Histochemical Investigations of Cholinesterase in Different Molluscs with Reference to Functional Conditions

I. ZS.-NAGY & J. SALÁNKI

Biological Research Institute of the Hungarian Academy of Science, Tihany, Hungary.

THE function of acetylcholine (ACh) is accepted in general as being in close relationship with the presence of acetylcholinesterase (AChE). The presence of AChE in an excitable tissue is likewise interpreted as proof of the cholinergic mechanism. On the basis of physiological investigations on Aplysia and Helix pomatia it seemed to be proved that ACh plays an important part in the central neural processes of molluscs^1–3. Kerkut and Cottrell³ demonstrated ACh directly from snail ganglia in the nervous system of Aplysia depilans cholinesterase (ChE) was detected by biochemical methods⁴. For these very reasons it is surprising that up to now there are no histochemical data on the presence of AChE in the central nervous system of molluscs.

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