BACKGROUND The muscle-relaxing effects of succinylcholine are terminated via hydrolysis by plasma cholinesterase. There are multiple genetic variants of this enzyme and clinical circumstances that might influence the activity of plasma cholinesterase and eventually lead to prolonged neuromuscular blockade following succinylcholine application. CASE REPORT Here, we report a parturient woman wi...

The protein family known as CLAMS (cholinesterase-like adhesion molecules) forms a novel class of heterophilic cell adhesion proteins. Family members are found through a wide range of metazoans and play a role during the development of multiple tissues. The majority of members of this family are transmembrane proteins with an extracellular domain that is conserved with cholinesterases including...

Diisopropyl fluorophosphate (DFP) is a highly specific inactivator of e&erases, such as cholinesterase and chymotrypsin (2), and combines irreversibly with these enzymes (3,4). In a previous report from this laboratory (5) we have shown that, when the reaction product of DFP and chymotrypsin, namely, diisopropylphosphoryl chymotrypsin, is partially hydrolyzed, serine phosphoric acid may be obta...

S EVERAL SUGGESTIONS have been made to explain the parallelism between serum cholinesterase and serum albuniin levels in chronic liver disease-first recognized by Faber (i), and since, by many othersand the moderate fall in serum cholinesterase found to occur ill normal persons after the infusion of albumin (2). Kunkel and Ward (3) suggested that a normal serum albumin level was needed for the ...

Pancuronium causes a powerful and highly selective inhibition of human serum cholinesterase in vitro. The inhibition was studied in serum from 14 individuals of both sexes (5-60 years of age) with normal reactions to suxamethonium. Pancuronium, in a concentration of 2.3 x 10(-7) M, caused a 50% inhibition of the enzymatic hydrolysis of acetylcholine, when this substrate was present in a concen...

In recent years, understanding of the pathogenesis and clinical presentation of distinct myasthenia subtypes has increased significantly. This article reviews the clinical manifestations of autoimmune myasthenia gravis (including myasthenia associated with anti-muscle-specific kinase antibodies), ocular myasthenia, and antibody negative myasthenia. The following treatments are examined: choline...

Acetylcholinesterase purified from cobra (Naja naja) venom exhibits a serotonin-sensitive aryl acylamidase activity. Both acetylcholinesterase and aryl acylamidase activities co-eluted in column chromatographic procedures (Sephadex G-75 and Zinc-Sepharose), co-migrated on polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, co-immunoprecipitated by anti-snake venom antibody and showed the same heat denaturation...