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Pseudocholinesterase and the Prediction of Stability in Subnormal and Psychopathic Offenders

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 January 2018

D. W. McKerracher ,
W. A. McGuire ,
A. Aronson  and
J. Scott
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Extract

In the last decade, much physiological and biochemical information has been collected about the organic role played by the enzyme “true” cholinesterase in the transmission of nervous impulses (Crossland, 1957; Feldberg, 1957; Nachmansohn, 1959); but attempts to explain the function of pseudocholinesterase have been less consistent, and confined mainly to the effects of physical disease (Berry et al., 1954; Koster et al., 1943; Kunkel et al., 1947; McArdle, 1940) with one exception: Richter, (1942) discovered a significant relationship between raised pseudocholinesterase activity and neurotic anxiety or depression. Eysenck commented on this behavioural link (1947), but no further investigations appear to have been carried out in spite of the provocative theme. The possibility of other behavioural abnormalities being associated with an elevated pseudocholinesterase level therefore seemed to merit some attention.

Type
Research Article
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 112 , Issue 488 , July 1966 , pp. 717 - 722
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1966 

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