On the excretion of reduction products of haematin in disease / by C.A. MacMunn.
- MacMunn, Charles Alexander, 1852-1911.
- Date:
- 1888
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: On the excretion of reduction products of haematin in disease / by C.A. MacMunn. 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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![bile haemochromogen had been detected previously by me; hence, when I found it in the adrenals, I concluded that here also it must be excretory. Moreover, the appearance of the spectra differed in some cases in such a manner as to lead me to conclude that the substance wliich was being clianged into hfemochromogen was found in different stages of metabolism, and the bands of the latter were certainly made fainter wlien the blood-vessels of the animal were washed out with salt solution. I suljsequently found that it is highly probable that not only haemoglobin, but also the histohaematins may furnish haemochromogen ; and one frequently can detect a liistohifimatin, especially in the cortical part of the adrenals. Hence I drew the obvious conclusion that in the ad- renals a downward metamorphosis of worn-out pigments— hiemoglobins and the histohiBmatins—is taking place, and the func- tion of these organs is to pick out of the circulation these worn- out or effete colouring matters with their accompanying proteids; for if the coloured constituent be present, so also must the pro- teid, which together originally built up the molecule of a haemo- globin or a histohaematin. If then the adrenals discharge this function, we ought to find evidence of the presence in the excre- tions of incompletely metabolised pigments, when these pigment- metabolising organs are unfitted by disease for the performance of their function. And that is exactly what is found. I have detected, by means of the spectroscope, in the urine of Addison's disease, such a pigment, which I named urohaematin,^^ but, sub- sequently I changed its name to urohaematoporphyrin, since it is a kind, of haematoporphjTin. The urinary pigments traceable back to bile and haematin are two in number—namely, normal and febrile urobilin, but the above pigment is, as I have shown, produced only from haematin by the action of such reducing agents as zinc and sulphuric acid and sodium amalgam. In the JouBNAi. for 1883 (December 1st) I showed that it occurs in the urine of acute rheumatism, but subsequent investigation has convinced me that it is present in various febrile conditions, and to sum the matter up, it may be said to be present in urine under at least two conditions : (1) when an excess of effete haemoglobin or histohaematin is present in the circulation, the blood-meta- bolising glands being healthy, but incapable of dealing with the excess of effete pigment; or (2) when the amount of effete pig- ments may be not in excess, but the blood-metabolising glands are diseased. In the urine of cirrhosis of the liver, where the secretory cells are encroached upon by connective tissue, it is present, and in the urine of Hodgkin's disease, when the skin had become bronzed, owing to disease of the adrenals, it has been found. In a case of this kind Dr. Saundby actually labelled the specimen urohaematin, suspecting its presence from what I had told him, and it was present. In Addison's disease I have found it several times. In the later stages of that disease, when the blood has become deteriorated from the presence in it of various poisonous products of incomplete metamorphosis, of course we may have to acknowledge two sources of this urohaemato- porphyrin—namely, effete pigment present from disease of the ad- renals, and effete pigment due to subsequent excessive destruc- tion of the red blood-corpuscles. In many cases the simple addi- tion of a mineral acid to the urine will bring out the bands of 12 Proc. Roij. Soc, vol. xxxi, p. 2G, and vol. xxxv, p. 394; Journ. Physiol., ^°]f:i Hamiitoborphyrin is present in the integument of invertebrates in which no hemoglobin can be found. (See Jour. Phys,ol.. vol. vii, No. 3. and vol. s m. No. 6.) Hence, and since it can be artilicially prepared from myohocniatin. I con- cluded it niiglit be a metabolite of the histohxniatins.](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b22302475_0006.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
