Very early in the study of the mechanism of neuromuscular transmission in skeletal muscles,
it was clear that the hydrolysis of acetylcholine by muscle cholinesterases within the time of
the refractory period required a very high concentration of the enzyme near the motor
terminals. David Nachmansohn and George B. Koelle and their collaborators obtained the
first biochemical and histochemical data consistent with this prediction. Now that the various
molecular forms of AChE have been satisfactorily described, it is possible to analyse the …