Serum acetylcholinesterase activity in psychiatric patients

Serum acetylcholinesterase activity was measured in hospitalized 30 schizophrenic and 30 depressive patients. It was observed that the enzyme activity was significantly higher in depressive patient than controls (Comprising of 20 surgical subjects). An increase in activity with the duration of illness was also noted in such patients. In contrast, schizophrenics did not show any significant increase except a little increase along with the number of episodes on comparison with control subjects. In view of the cholinergic predominance in depression it is suggested that increased serum cholinesterase activity in the aforementioned disorder may be due to a biochemical defence against the stress of higher acetylcholine content in the body fluids.