Beef Spleen Research Articles

Antagonism of mercurial poisoning in growing cells investigated with onion root tips.

SummaryThe fatal effects of PMOH and PMN at near 10−5 M on enlarging cells of onion root tips were successfully antagonized in an hour's exposure with cysteine and glutathione at around 10−4 M and by extracts of yeast (0.5-1%) and of beef spleen (0.5%). Gross reactions provided a delicate indicator for estimating the efficiency of the antagonists and showed a reduction in toxicity of 50% to 95%. Cysteine and glutathione at 0.01% also protected roots against PMN 0.2 ppm for 3 days continuously. Effective concentrations of all antagonists by themselves caused some growth arrest. The enzymic systems involved and the possible mechanism of antagonism are discussed.

Anemia plus hypoproteinemia in dogs; various proteins in diet show various patterns in blood protein production; beef muscle,. egg, lactalbumin, fibrin, viscera, and supplements.

Dogs with sustained anemia plus hypoproteinemia due to bleeding and a continuing low protein or protein-free diet containing abundant iron have been used in the present work to test food proteins and supplements as to their See PDF for Structure capacity to produce new hemoglobin and plasma proteins. The reserve stores of blood protein-producing materials are thus largely depleted in such animals and sustained levels of 6 to 8 gm. per cent hemoglobin and 4 to 5 gm. per cent plasma protein can be maintained for considerable periods of time. The stimulus of double depletion drives the body to use all protein building materials with the utmost conservation. This represents a severe biological test for food and body proteins and its assay value must have significance. Measured by this biological test in these experiments, casein stands well up among the best food proteins. The ratio of plasma protein to hemoglobin is about 40 to 50 per cent, which emphasizes the fact that these dogs produce on most diets about 2 gm. hemoglobin to 1 gm. plasma protein. The reason for this preference for hemoglobin production is obscure. The mass of circulating hemoglobin is greater even in this degree of anemia and the life cycle of hemoglobin is much longer than that of the plasma protein. Egg protein, egg albumin, and lactalbumin all favor the production of more plasma protein and less hemoglobin as compared with casein. The plasma protein to hemoglobin ratio is increased, sometimes above 100 per cent. Supplements to the above proteins of casein digests or several amino acids may return the response toward that which is standard for casein. Histidine as a supplement to egg protein increases the total blood protein output and brings the ratio of plasma protein to hemoglobin toward that of casein. Beef muscle goes to the other extreme and favors new hemoglobin production up to 4 gm. hemoglobin to 1 gm. plasma protein-a ratio of 25 per cent. The total amounts of new blood proteins are high. Lactalbumin as compared with casein shows a lower total blood protein output and a plasma protein to hemoglobin ratio of 70 to 90 per cent. Amino acid supplements are less effective. See PDF for Structure Fibrin is a good food protein in these experiments-much like casein. When fed over these 5 week periods it causes a sustained increase in blood fibrinogen. Folic acid in the doses given has no effect on the expected response to various diets. Peanut flour is a very poor diet for the production of new hemoglobin and plasma proteins. Small supplements of casein and beef show a significant response with improved output of blood proteins. Soy bean flour gives a poor response and wheat gluten a good response with adequate output of blood proteins. Visceral products show some variety. Beef heart is not as effective as beef muscle. Beef spleen, kidney, and pancreas give good responses but not up to casein. Pig stomach, beef brain, and calf thymus are below average. The plasma protein to hemoglobin ratio shows a narrow range (40 to 60 per cent) in experiments with visceral products.

The effect of orally administered desiccated beef spleen and abdominal lymph nodes on megakaryocytogenesis and thrombocytes.

The effect of orally administered desiccated beef spleen and abdominal lymph nodes on megakaryocytogenesis and thrombocytes.

Effect of beef spleen extract on the respiration of normal mouse tissues during storage.

SummaryBy means of Warburg respirometers the oxygen consumption of brain, connective tissue, heart, kidney, liver and lung from normal dba mice was measured at 48-hour intervals during a period of 18 days of storage at 4°C, in Tyrode's solution and in beef spleen extract. The respiration of all six of the normal tissues, whether stored in Tyrode's solution or in beef spleen extract, decreased during the initial 8- to 10-day period, while the same tissues, with the exception of liver, were characterized by a progressive increase in respiration during the 12- to 18-day period of storage. This increase could not be correlated with bacterial contamination or with tissue autolysis as revealed by histologic observation and amino nitrogen determination. The immediate effect of the extract was to decrease the oxygen consumption of brain, lung and heart, and, to a lower degree, of liver and connective tissue, while that of kidney was increased. The effect of beef spleen extract on dbrB adenocarcinoma in dba mice f...

Effects of histone and other proteins on the Feulgen reaction.

WHEN deoxyribonucleic acid is subjected to the Feulgen reaction, the pigment which develops may be soluble in water or dilute acid, as the Stedmans1 have suggested. If deoxyribonucleohistone extracted from nuclei of beef spleen by the method of Mirsky and Pollister2 is treated in the same manner, the colour develops almost exclusively on the precipitate.

Sex and Organ Specificity in the Response of β-Glucuronidase to Extrinsic Agents

IT was considered that the correlation shown to exist between the β-glucuronidase activity of a tissue and the amount of cell proliferation in progress1 could explain the rise in uterine glucuronidase found by Fishman and Fishman2 to follow aestrogen administration to ovariectomized mice. In a preliminary kinetic study of the enzyme in mouse uterus, the pH-activity curve for the hydrolysis of phenol β-d-glucuronide was found to be almost symmetrical about pH 4·5. This is in contrast to the curves previously found for liver and spleen glucuronidase in the normal mouse3, With peaks at pH. 5·2 as well as at 4·5. Mills4 has shown that beef spleen glucuronidase can be separated into two fractions, A and B, with slightly different pH. optima for the hydrolysis of menthol glucuronide. Since it seemed probable that mouse uterus lacked a glucuronidase fraction present in liver and spleen, it was considered necessary to investigate the possibility that differences between A and B in distribution and response to extrinsic agents might in some way explain the selective actions of such substances as carbon tetrachloride and aestrone on liver and uterine tissue respectively.

Antagonism by Cellular Extracts of Effects of Respiratory Poisons on Onion Roots and Sea Urchin Eggs

SummaryThe lethal and sub-lethal effects of basic phenylmercuric nitrate, potassium cyanide and mercuric chloride on onion roots and sea urchin embryos can be antagonized by yeast and beef spleen extract. These observations are in agreement with reports that yeast extract can offset the action of respiratory poisons on some enzyme systems.

HYALURONIDASES OF BACTERIAL AND ANIMAL ORIGIN

Hyaluronidase has been investigated in various strains of pneumococci and hemolytic streptococci, and in some material of animal origin. The enzyme activity was measured by a viscosimetric method using as a substrate a fluid containing hyaluronic acid as the viscous component, and by the hydrolysis of pure hyaluronic acid into its reducing components. In pneumococci the enzyme was demonstrated in all types and in all strains tested, including smooth and rough forms of Types I, II, III, and VI. In hemolytic streptococci the enzyme from strain H44, group A, reported previously, was further investigated. In this strain, as well as in other hemolytic streptococci containing the enzyme, great variability of the enzyme concentration was found. Furthermore, the enzyme proved to be very labile, giving in the viscosimetric measurements a typical stoppage of the activity initially present. In 13 out of 14 other strains of group A organisms investigated, no enzyme was demonstrable, but the variation in activity in the enzyme-active strains renders the negative findings inconclusive. A very active enzyme, though of great variability, was found in one group C strain. The enzyme was prepared from the leech in confirmation of the work of Claude. The enzyme from testis showed a maximum at pH 4.4 in contrast to the optimum of 5.8 in pneumococcal, streptococcal, and Cl. welchii preparations. The pH curve of the testis enzyme indicated, however, a second optimum coinciding with that of the bacterial enzymes. The hydrolysis further indicated a break at about 50 per cent hydrolysis, indicating primarily the hydrolysis down to aldobionic acid units. The depolymerizing action of testis enzyme is more marked than that of pneumococcal enzyme. The results have been interpreted as due to the presence of two enzymes, one attacking the long chain molecule, the other hydrolyzing the aldobionic acid formed. The enzyme was further prepared from beef spleen. Here the hydrolysis of beta-glucuronides was compared to that of hyaluronic acid. The two actions apparently are catalyzed by two distinct enzymes. Enzyme preparations were further obtained from rabbit skin. Since hyaluronic acid has also been found in the skin, this organ may play a considerable rôle in the metabolism of hyaluronic acid. In addition to hyaluronic acid, it has been shown that hyaluronidases also hydrolyze the sulfuric acid containing polysaccharide of the cornea. This polysaccharide has previously been characterized as a natural sulfuric acid ester of hyaluronic acid. The pneumococcal enzyme preparations also attacked a polysaccharide acid prepared from submaxillary gland, which is not hyaluronic acid. However, it is believed that this hydrolysis is due to a second enzyme contained in the preparations. The testis enzyme, on the other hand, attacked chondroitinsulfuric acid and also contained a sulfatase. The depolymerizing action of hyaluronidase has been discussed. It is concluded that depolymerization and hydrolysis are probably due to the same enzyme attacking hyaluronic acid. It is suggested that the first attack of the enzyme does not cause an opening of glucosidic linkages. The available evidence indicates that the viscosity of the natural fluids is not due to macromolecules but to micellae formation, and that these micellae are depolymerized by the enzymatic reaction. It is assumed that the depolymerization is due to a primary enzyme-substrate reaction, which in itself is insufficient to open the glucosidic linkages. The latter reaction involves further steps. The relationship between hyaluronidase and "spreading factor" has been discussed anew. Though more data have been reported pointing to the identity of hyaluronidase and "spreading factor," our inability to demonstrate hyaluronidase in streptococcal material of high "spreading" potency, is still a serious obstacle to the unitarian theory. However, it seems possible that the streptococcal material may contain reversibly inactive enzyme which may be reactivated in vivo.

The Digestibility of Animal Products and Cereals by Minks

The production of milks for furs has become an important industry as the result of the development of a number of successful rations by practical breeders. Few studies have been undertaken, however, to determine the specific nutritive requirements of minks. To obtain such information, the United States Bureau of Biological Survey and Cornell University cooperated in digestion studies involving some of the animal products and cereal grains commonly used in the feeding of minks. In these investigations 57 minks were used and 12 different rations were tested. Six of the rations (Nos. 1, 2, 4, 6, 15, and 16) were composed of animal products supplemented in various proportions with different cereals, as shown in Table 1. Dry ration No. 26 was a commercial dog food. Of the other five, consisting entirely of raw meat products, each given as the sole feed during the digestion period, No. 3 was horse meat; No. 14, canned fish; No. 18, beef tripe; No. 25, beef spleen; and No. 28, horse liver.

THE RELATION OF THE SPLEEN TO BLOOD DESTRUCTION AND REGENERATION AND TO HEMOLYTIC JAUNDICE

The anemia which develops after splenectomy is most marked in animals on a mixed table scrap diet of meat, bread, cereals, and vegetables, which is essentially a cooked diet. Control studies in which a unilateral nephrectomy precedes splenectomy demonstrate that the anemia is not due to operation, hemorrhage, or accidents of convalescence but develops only in the absence of the spleen. The results of studies of the influence of food containing a large amount of iron in presumably easily utilizable form, as in raw beef spleen, do not support the view that the anemia is due to lack of iron in the food. Observation on the influence of a diet of raw meat as contrasted with cooked meat shows a more severe anemia in animals on the cooked diet and suggests the possibility that heat alters some substance which, in the absence of the spleen, the body cannot utilize. A final conclusion in regard to this point must, however, await the results of more detailed studies now in progress.

THE RELATION OF THE SPLEEN TO BLOOD DESTRUCTION AND REGENERATION AND TO HEMOLYTIC JAUNDICE

1. The blood of the splenic artery and vein shows either no differences, or only such slight irregular variations as may be due to the errors inherent in hematologic methods, or are common to arterial and venous blood of the general circulation. 2. The observation of Banti and Furno that free hemoglobin occurs in the blood of the splenic vein is not confirmed. 3. Extracts of the spleen have no definite hemolytic action in vitro. 4. Intraperitoneal injection of fresh saline extracts of the spleen causes in the dog a sharp increase in the number of red cells and the hemoglobin content which lasts for one or two days and may recur on a second injection. Extracts of liver, kidney, and erythrocytes similarly prepared do not give this effect. This observation supports Danilewsky's theory that the spleen may exert a stimulating effect upon the formation of red cells in the bone marrow. 5. On the other hand, the feeding of raw beef spleen to splenectomized dogs over long periods of time has no clearly defined influence in preventing the anemia which usually follows splenectomy.