Thesis (doctoral)--Académie de Paris, 1894. / "Serie A, no. 222; no. d'ordre 836." Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph.D.) -- McMaster University, 2001. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 222-233). Also available via World Wide Web.

Cholinesterase (ChE) was histochemically localized by three methods in the sixth abdominal ganglion and the femur of crickets and cockroaches using light and electron microscopy. The light microscopy showed that ChE in insect femur could be readily demonstrated. The ultrastructural data showed enzyme activity: in ganglion - neural lamella, perineurium, axolemma, inside axons, along glia and at probable synapses; in peripheral nerves - in glial cells, sarcoplasmic reticulum, T-system, axolemma, sarcolemma and at neuromuscular junctions. All activity was inhibited with 10-4 eserine except in the neural lamella, suggesting cholinesterase at all of the above sites except the neural lamella where a non-specific esterase is present. This is the first histochemical localization of a cholinesterase in insect myoneural junctions. Barrnett, Karnovsky and Gomori methods were compared. Tissues were well penetrated with the Barrnett method. The Karnovsky technique provides poor ultrastructure. The Gomori method gives the best over-all results, although the end-product is rather diffuse.