Determination of acetylcholine in human blood.
Acetylcholine levels of whole blood from 80 healthy subjects were determined by pyrolysis-gas chromatography-mass fragmentography. Acetylcholine was extracted from 1.2 ml of venous blood in the presence of eserine, demethylated by pyrolysis, and assayed by selected ion-current monitoring using butyrylcholine as an internal standard. Inhibition of blood cholinesterase activity by eserine was essential to accurate measurement. The overall recovery of acetylcholine was 45%. The blood acetylcholine levels of healthy subjects varied over a wide range with a geometric mean of 0.49 mumole/liter, 90% of the levels falling into the range of 0.20 to 1.31 mumole/liter. There was no correlation between the blood acetylcholine level and age or sex.
D000109:Acetylcholine / Q000097:blood*; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002648:Child; D002794:Choline / Q000031:analogs & derivatives / Q000097:blood; D002800:Cholinesterase Inhibitors / Q000097:blood; D002802:Cholinesterases / Q000097:blood; D005260:Female; D008401:Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry / Q000379:methods; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010830:Physostigmine / Q000494:pharmacology; D012016:Reference Values
D002800:Cholinesterase Inhibitors; C017100:butyrylcholine; C009062:propionylcholine; D010830:Physostigmine; D002802:Cholinesterases; D002794:Choline; D000109:Acetylcholine