Abstract
IN some recent attempts1 to follow rapid changes in the concentration of acetylcholine in mammalian brain in vivo, the experimental animals were killed by freezing in liquid air, a method which had already yielded valuable results when applied to the study of certain other labile metabolites2. As an accompaniment to these studies, one of us3 reported that the amount of acetylcholine which can be extracted from excised brain frozen in liquid air is some 13 per cent greater than when it is extracted from unfrozen tissue by the more usual methods. Since this work was completed, however, Elliott and his colleagues4,5 have claimed that a complete extraction can be achieved only by homogenizing the unfrozen brain in an acid saline solution; according to these workers, previous freezing of the excised tissue results in a loss of up to 50 per cent of its contained acetylcholine. It has, however, proved impossible to confirm these findings, as the following experimental results testify.
Similar content being viewed by others
Article PDF
References
Richter, D., and Crossland, J., Amer. J. Physiol., 159, 247 (1949). Crossland, J., and Richter, D., Proc. XVIII Inter. Cong. Physiol., 170 (1950).
Stone, W. E., Webster, J. E., and Gurdjian, E. S., J. Neurophysiol., 8, 233 (1945). Kerr, S. E., J. Biol. Chem., 110, 625 (1935). Richter, D., and Dawson, R. M. C., J. Biol. Chem., 176, 1199 (1948).
Crossland, J., J. Physiol., 114, 318 (1951).
Elliott, K. A. C., Swank, R. L., and Henderson, Nora, Amer. J. Physiol., 162, 469 (1950).
Elliott, K. A. C., and Henderson, Nora, Amer. J. Physiol., 165, 365 (1951).
MacIntosh, F. C., J. Physiol., 96, 6P (1939).
Tobias, J. M., Kollross, J. J., and Savit, J., J. Cell. Comp. Physiol., 28, 159 (1946). Tobias, J. M., Lipton, M. A., and Lepinat, A. A., Proc. Soc. Exp. Biol. N.Y., 61, 51 (1946).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
CROSSLAND, J., MERRICK, A. Extraction of Acetylcholine from Brain Tissue. Nature 171, 267 (1953). https://doi.org/10.1038/171267a0
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/171267a0
Comments
By submitting a comment you agree to abide by our Terms and Community Guidelines. If you find something abusive or that does not comply with our terms or guidelines please flag it as inappropriate.