Cholinesterase activity in sensory-nerve endings, capillaries and motor end plates of the facial skin of the brush-tailed possum (Trichosurus vulpecula).

The facial skin of two adult and one 50-day-old pouch animal of the marsupial mammal Trichosurus vulpecula was removed after the animals has been suitably anesthetized and perfused for electron microscopy. Small blocks of tissue (1 x 0.5 mm) were cut and incubated in acetylthiocholine iodide substrate for cholinesterase studies. The blocks were then subsequently postfixed in osmium tetroxide. Thin sections were cut and stained with lead acetate. Specific cholinesterase was found within the nerves of both the adult and the 50-day-old pouch animal, and in the motor end plates. Nonspecific cholinesterase was present in pinocytotic vesicles and interlamellar spaces of terminal Schwann cells associated with nerve end organs in the adult, and in the same areas in Schwann cells of nonmyelinated nerves in the pouch animal. It was also present in the pinocytotic vesicles of the capillary endothelium.