Reduction in Blood Filtrate After Treatment with Colon Bacillus.

Abstract

To 5 cc. portions of Folin-Wu filtrate were added 10 drops of a solution containing 6.4% NaH2PO4 and 17.9% Na2HPO4. These were then inoculated with a strain of an organism culturally and morphologically typical of Bacillus coli communis. After 24 to 48 hours incubation the residual reduction was determined by the technique of Folin and Wu modified as follows: Several dilute standards ranging from an equivalent of 0 to 0.020% in terms of the original blood were treated in the same manner as, and simultaneously with, the unknown solution. The color of the latter was then compared directly without dilution and without the aid of a colorimeter with the color given by the standards. The readings of about 100 determinations on whole blood ranged from slightly below 0.010 to somewhat over 0.020%, with the greater part of the figures lying between 0.015 and 0.020%. Plasma values were one-third to one-fifth of those obtained without removing the cells. If varying amounts of solution were used together with sufficient water to make the volume 2 cc., the results were proportional to the amount of filtrate present. When glucose was added to such incubated material immediately before the analysis the sum of the added glucose and the residual reducing power was found by the standard technique of Folin and Wu. If glucose was added and incubation continued the added glucose was destroyed in 12 to 18 hours. If the incubation of such filtrates was continued for several days there was sometimes a very slight further decrease in reducing power which may have been associated with contamination, as it was not observed when the solution was autoclaved before inoculation. In solutions of pure glucose similarly treated the reducing power decreased much more slowly and the opacity indicated the presence of much fewer organisms.