Studies on the specificity of choline esterase in Helix pomatia

Abstract

The tissues of H. pomatia contained a mixture of enzymes with cholines-terase activity. The blood and dart sac were especially active towards acetylcholine. The blood enzyme split acetyl-aneurine and acetylmethylcholine at a high rate, while the dart sac enzyme was very active towards tributyrin. Neither split ethylacetate. Excess of acetylcholine inhibited the activity of the blood enzyme but not of the dart sac. Physo-stigmine inhibited both enzymes and to the same magnitude as the enzymes of horse serum.