Esterases in Post-Mortem Inner Ear Fluids

Abstract

In electrophoretic analysis, using β-naph-thyl acetate as substrate, post-mortem perilymph and endolymph, CSF and serum all showed 6 esterase fractions while NHS, diluted 1 : 10, had 4 fractions and CSF none. Fractions 1 and 2 were arylesterases while fraction 3 contained α₁-arylesteriise, acetylcho-Iinesterase (AChE) and cholinesterase (ChE). Fraction 4 was ChE and fractions 5 and 6 were tissue esterases. ChE was the dominant fraction in serum while AChE dominated in inner ear fluids, brain tissue, acoustic nerve and acoustic turnour homoge-nates.