A lipoclastic accelerating action of serum as an index in pathological conditions / by J.A. Shaw-Mackenzie and O. Rosenheim.

  • Shaw-Mackenzie, John A. (John Alexander), 1857-1933.
Date:
1910
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: A lipoclastic accelerating action of serum as an index in pathological conditions / by J.A. Shaw-Mackenzie and O. Rosenheim. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    [In addition to serum we also examined the cerebrospinal fluid of the dog and cerebrospinal fluid from cases of general paralysis, which were found to be practically inactive. Serous effusions, so far examined, have shown the reaction to a marked degree. We examined also a series of press juices of various animal organs, and found (in the absence of a lipoclastic action of tbe juice itself) an accelerating action in the case of the testicle and thyroid, whilst in the case of the duodenal press juice the result corresponded to the sum of the lipoclastic action of pancreas and duodenum. In the case of glycerine extracts, those of the testicle, thyroid, ovary, and spleen were found to be slightly active, whilst no acceleration was observed in the case of glycerine extracts of lymphatic glands and prostate.] With regard to the chemical nature of this accelerating substance in serum very little can be said at present. It withstands the temperature of boiling water; it is not destroyed by putrefaction; it dialyses and is soluble in dilute alcohol. An important property of the accelerator was brought to light by the investigation of its behaviour towards cholesterin, which in all cases was found to exert an inhibitory action. Details of the method of obtaining a pancreatic extract rich in fat- splitting properties, the various substances which accelerate this action still further, together with the inhibitory action of cholesterin on all of these, have been communicated elsewhere and will be published shortly. Briefly, however, it may be stated that the lipoclastic action is estimated by the amount of decinormal potash used for the neutralization of the fatty acids set free by pancreatic lipase acting on olive-oil emulsion, or on ethyl butyrate, the mixture being incubated at a temperature of 37° C. for a certain time. By adjusting the conditions of the experiments in such a way as to reduce the amount of pancreatic lipase and olive-oil emulsion (or of ethyl butyrate) to a minimum, we have been able to show the accelerating power of as little as O'l c.c. of serum. Generally, 0'25 c.c. and 0’5 c.c. of serum are sufficient. In this way one is able to compare the degree of acceleration of serum in health and disease. As a matter of fact our first observation on this accelerating reaction was made in a case of carcinoma. Taking normal human serum as a basis of comparison, the following figures give the results in a typical case: 0'25 c.c. of glycerine extract of pancreas, 0'5 c.c. of water and 2'5 c.c. of olive-oil emulsion were mixed, and after incubation the amount of acid liberated required 5'3 c.c. of decinormal potash to neutralize it. When O'l c.c. of serum had been added, this figure rose to 7'4: when 0'25 c.c. serum was added, it