CHANGES IN PLASMA CHOLINESTERASE ISOENZYMES DUE TO ORAL CONTRACEPTIVES

Abstract

Many changes have been noted in the plasma proteins of women taking oral contraceptives and a similarity between the metabolic effects of oral contraceptive therapy and pregnancy has been observed by Tyler (1964) as well as by Crawford & Rudofsky (1966). The existence of diminished serum cholinesterase activity in pregnancy (Schnider, 1965; Robertson, 1966) and in women taking oral contraceptives (Robertson, 1967) is reported. Robertson (1967) has shown electrophoretic changes in serum plasma proteins during oral contraceptive therapy. In the present study, changes are reported in plasma cholinesterase isoenzymes in women taking oral contraceptives all of which contained oestrogen. Thirty-eight plasma samples from healthy young women were examined by electrophoresis in 13·5% starch gel (Smithies, 1955) using 0·03 m-borate buffer pH 8·3, and a voltage gradient of 10 V/cm for 3