Deposits of iron in the liver and kidneys : with remarks on the demonstration of iron in tissues / Sheridan Delépine.

  • Auguste Sheridan Delépine
Date:
[1891]
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Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Deposits of iron in the liver and kidneys : with remarks on the demonstration of iron in tissues / Sheridan Delépine. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The University of Glasgow Library. The original may be consulted at The University of Glasgow Library.

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    [^From the Proceedings of the Physiological Society, May 10, 1891.] Sheridan Del^pine :— 1. Deposits of Iron in the liver and kidneys^ tuith remarks on the demonstration of Iron in tissues. The object of this communication is to attract attention, 1st. to the importance of using certain chemical reagents in definite jDroportions and in a definite sequence, for revealing Fe in the tissues ; 2nd. to the fact that very slight changes of composition may- obscure the reaction given by the iron compounds (so-called free iron) deposited in the liver and other organs under normal and abnormal circumstances. I. I will limit my remarks to the Prussian Blue reaction, which is the most convenient though perhaps not the most universal in its application. (1) Tizzoni^ has recommended a fluid which is nothing else than a sokition of Ferrocyanide of Potassium acidulated with Hydrochloric acid. This is a natural application of the well-known method of testing for Persalts of Iron. (2) It appeared to me that the method although good in principle usually suffered from the mode of its application. If a large quantity of Ferrocyanide of Potassium be added to a small quantity of a Ferric salt m the presence of an insufficient quantity of Hydrochloric acid, no precipitate of Prussian Blue is produced, and if the disproportion' be sufficiently marked a pale green instead of a deep blue colour is obtained. If, on the contrary, to a small quantity of a Ferric salt a small quantity of Ferrocyanide of Potassium be added, even a small proportion of Hydrochloric acid will cause an abundant precipitation of Prussian Blue. The possibility of a variation in the amount of iron contained in the organs tested IS not taken account of by Tizzoni, and the result is that with his fluid, tissues containing very notable quantities of iron verv often give no reaction at all. ^ (3) To overcome these difficulties it was evident that one should in testing for iron ouuuiu 1 Stirling, Outlines of Practical Histology, p. 243 (1890).