Auto-intoxication as a cause and complication of disease / by W. Louis Chapman.
- Chapman, W. Louis (William Louis), 1874-
- Date:
- 1903
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: Auto-intoxication as a cause and complication of disease / by W. Louis Chapman. Source: Wellcome Collection.
Provider: This material has been provided by the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine, Harvard Medical School.
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![As yet we do not know the precise genesis of this important substance. That it is not formed primarily in the kidneys has been proved by Minkowski who found that it accumulated in the blood and tissues of snakes and fowls after the extirpation of the kidneys. He also showed that the total nitrogenous elimination was diminished by but one-third after the removal of the liver, and the nitrogen eliminated as uric acid, which is usually 60 per cent, to 70 per cent, of the total nitrogen, was reduced to 3 per cent, to 6 per cent, of it. He concludes that uric acid is formed by the synthesis of ammonia and lactic acid, both of which originate in proteid. But in mammals the reverse is true, for it is found that uric acid output is increased rather than dimin- ished in diseases where there is loss of functional liver mass, such as acute yellow atrophy, phosphorous poi- soning, cirrhosis, and after experimental destruction of circumscribed areas. Uric acid is probably formed by the physiological breaking down of the nuclei of the leucocytes and tissue cells, and anything which in- creases destructive metabolism increases uric acid out- put. Zoetber and Ibrahim (4) have studied the history of uric acid when introduced into the organism, and have shown that it acts as a poison to the tissues, not one of the major grade of active poisons, yet quite ca]3able of producing intoxication, and that it is excreted un- changed and not as urea. It also causes increased pro- duction and consequently increased elimination of uric acid. That uric acid is capable of causing migrim is proved by Hall who took half a gram, producing intense head-](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b21175688_0027.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
