Acetylcholinesterase activity in the human thymus during immune response

The purpose of this paper is to study the amounts of acetylcholinesterase ( AChE) activity during the immune response in the human thymus. AChE activit y was analysed by biochemical and histoenzymatic methods in 7 immunostimula ted (treated) and 7 non-immunostimulated (untreated) patients. Immunostimul ation was obtained using the interferon drug for 6 months. After histoenzym atic staining of AChE activity, the slides containing the samples of thymus of treated and untreated patients underwent quantitative analysis of image s. The results provide direct evidence that the immune response increases t he level of AChE-positive structures contained in the human thymus. Treatme nt with interferon is also capable of increasing the protein content of the thymus. The biochemical data together with the histoenzymatical result, pr ovide direct evidence for a specific localization of AChE in structures res embling nerve fibers and/or in lymphatic structures of the thymic gland.