COMPARISON OF THE GOLD-THIOCHOLINE AND GOLD-THIOLACETIC ACID METHODS FOR THE HISTOCHEMICAL LOCALIZATION OF ACETYLCHOLINESTERASE AND CHOLINESTERASES
The thiocholine (ThCh) and thiolacetic acid (ThAc) methods for the histochemical localization of acetylcholinesterase (AChE) and cholinesterases (ChE's) were modified to permit the substitution of aurous gold for copper and lead, respectively, as the capturing agent. The chief advantage of the modifications is that the precipitates formed (AuThCh-phosphate and AuS) have fine, colloidal dimensions and high electron density, thus improving their potential usefulness as electron microscopic methods. By means of selective inhibitors of AChE (10–5 M BW 284), of ChE's ( 10–7 M DFP or 3.10–8 M Nu-683), and of both enzymes (10–5 M DFP or eserine), it was shown that the gold thiocholine (AuThCh) method retains the high specificity of the original ThCh method, whereas the gold thiolacetic acid (AuThAc) method, like the lead ThAc procedure, is considerably less specific. However, the AuThAc method appears to permit finer localization than the AuTuCh technique.