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A substance present in culture filtrates of enterotoxigenic staphylococci that is distinct from alpha-, beta-, or delta-lysins causes vomiting; in cats when injected by the intraperitoneal route. An emetic fraction containing only vestigial traces of lysins can be resolved into three protein components and one polysaccharide by use of the Durrum ionophoresis method. The only component of this group that gave indications of enterotoxicity was a protein with specific mobility, relative to the others. Hemolytic proteins were separated by paper ionophoresis using the method of McKinley, Maw, Oliver, and Common.

The Chair of Industrial Health in Newcastle upon Tyne was first filled in March, 1946. For about the first 12 years diseases of coalminers posed the main clinical and research problems. They stimulated surveys of pneumoconiosis in the Durham and Northumberland coalfields and led to studies of ϰ-ray viewing techniques and of the relationship of radiological appearance to symptoms in dust disease of the chest. A section of medical statistics, now headed by a professor, was one of the earliest elements of the department to be inaugurated, and this was followed by a section of pulmonary physiology. The emphasis on industrial pulmonary disease, on which 14 papers have been published, has gradually widened and become transferred from coal to beryllium, asbestos, and antimony. Coalminers with nystagmus were shown to be socially similar to miners without the disease but psychologically less stable. They also suffered from a breakdown of their binocular vision. A darkness-induced nystagmus was experimentally produced in kittens, with increasing difficulty as they became older. Decompression sickness has become an important interest. In the build-up of the department demands for occupational hygiene soon led to the formation of a section which started work on the decalcification of teeth by organic acids in a fruit salt factory. Lead poisoning in shipbreakers and smelters, and vanadium poisoning in fitters and gasmakers were studied jointly with clinicians. The thermal decomposition of protective coatings and welding rods has also attracted research, as also have the noise levels in a glassblowing school and in several power stations. All medical, engineering, and public health undergraduates are taught by the department, and also the honours chemists. All medical undergraduates and honours engineers are examined in industrial health. The departmental budget (including the field service) is about £54,000, and the department inhabits 12,660 sq. ft. of space.

In addition to histamine, a non-histamine smooth muscle stimulant and histamine-releasing activity, the presence in the venom of Myrmecia pyriformis of hyalur onidase and red cell lysing activity has been confirmed. The venom does not possess bradykinin-releasing activity. It is highly toxic to mice. Dialysis, sensitivity to heat and to proteolytic enzymes, butanol-acetic paper chromatography and paper electrophoresis have been employed to assist in the identification and separation of the above activities. The results indicate that portion of the histamine-releasing activity and all the hyaluronidase activity are distinct from the smooth muscle stimulant and red cell lysing components.

A method has been developed for the assay of allergens and may be summarized as follows: 1. Filter paper discs are activated with BrCN. 2. The allergens are coupled to the reactive groups on the paper disc carrier. 3. IgE immunoglobulin, present in the sera of allergic patients, then attaches itself to the allergen coupled to the paper discs. 4. 125 I-labeled anti-IgE antibodies thereafter interact with the IgE molecules attached via the allergens to the paper carrier. Examples of the assay with the use of dog, cat, horse, cow, and timothy allergens are presented. The allergen assay method can conveniently be used to compare the "potency" of different allergen extracts and to check the extraction procedure, storage, and further treatment of allergens.

1. 1. Levels of glucose, pyruvate and α-ketoglutarate were followed in whole blood of domestic animals (horses, cattle, hogs, sheep, rabbits, dogs and cats) and fowl. 2. 2. Glycaemia was assayed by the o-toluidine method 3. 3. α-Keto acids were determined by the 2,4-dinitrophenylhydrazone method and the single hydrazones were separated by paper-chromatography. 4. 4. Mean blood values for glucose and α-keto acids in individual species were tabulated.

1. Samples of thyroid and non-thyroid lymph and of thyroid and peripheral venous blood were obtained from primates and cats that had previously been given radioactive iodine. The distribution of the organic radioiodine between the protein and non-protein fractions in these samples was determined. 2. The proportion of the organic radioiodine in the form of iodoprotein was assessed by paper chromatography, acid-ethanol precipitation, hot-butanol washing, column chromatography and separate estimation of iodotyrosines after enzymic hydrolysis. 3. In thyroid lymph the relative proportion of the organic radioiodine in the form of iodoprotein was 75–98%; in blood it was much lower, probably no more than 6–7%. The absolute concentration of iodoprotein radioactivity also was considerably greater in thyroid lymph than in blood. 4. Enzymic hydrolysis of the protein of the thyroid lymph yielded a pattern of iodoamino acids that corresponded closely with that obtained after hydrolysis of protein extracted from the thyroid gland itself. 5. It can be concluded that the iodoprotein in thyroid lymph consists mainly of thyroglobulin or a closely related compound.

1. 1. The occurrence of carnosine, anserine, ophidine, β-alanine, γ-aminobutyric acid, histidine, 1-methylhistidine and 3-methylhistidine in the muscle tissues of twenty-six vetebrate species and the skins of two reptiles was studied using paper chromatography. 2. 2. One or two of the dipeptides was found in each tissue. Some tissues also contained β-alanine and histidine, but γ-aminobutyric acid, 1-methylhistidine and 3-methylhistidine were not detected. 3. 3. Relationships appear to exist between the zoological classification of a species and the identities and relative amounts of its dipeptides. 4. 4. The reptile skins contained the same dipeptides and other substances as their corresponding muscle tissues. 5. 5. Biochemical and biological information about the dipeptides is discussed.

A major alkaloid has been isolated from the leaves of Lobelia portoricensis Urban. Alkaloids are extracted with ether in alkaline ammoniacal solution, an average of 1.25 percent in the dried leaves. The crystalline alkaloid has a melting point of 115–116°, the hydrochloride, m.p. 187–188°, perchlorate, m.p. 156–158°, and the picrate, m.p. 175–176°. The new alkaloid showed the same sensitivity to reagents as lobeline. Paper chromatography, ascending process, was employed. Stationary phase consisted of formamide, ammonium formate, and formic acid; the mobile phase, equal parts of benzene and chloroform; Rf 75. Infrared absorption spectra showed a R─CO─aromatic organization and the presence of a ─NH group; no CH3 or OH group as in lobeline. The empirical formula is C21H23NO23. The formula is shown in structure I. The new alkaloid was found to stimulate the respiratory center.

Permeability of the cardiac cell membrane to choline ions was estimated by measuring radioactive choline influx and efflux in cat ventricular muscle. Maximum values for choline influx in 3.5 and 137 mM choline were respectively 0.56 and 9 pmoles/cm2·sec. In 3.5 mM choline the intracellular choline concentration was raised more than five times above the extracellular concentration after 2 hr of incubation. In 137 mM choline, choline influx corresponded to the combined loss of intracellular Na and K ions. Paper chromatography of muscle extracts indicated that choline was not metabolized to any important degree. The accumulation of intracellular choline rules out the existence of an efficient active pumping mechanism. By measuring simultaneously choline and sucrose exchange, choline efflux was analyzed in an extracellular phase, followed by two intracellular phases: a rapid and a slow one. Efflux corresponding to the rapid phase was estimated at 16–45 pmoles/cm2·sec in 137 mM choline and at 1.3–3.5 pmoles/cm2·sec in 3.5 mM choline; efflux in 3.5 mM choline was proportional to the intracellular choline concentration. The absolute figures for unidirectional efflux were much larger than the net influx values. The data are compared to Na and Li exchange in heart cells. Possible mechanisms for explaining the choline behavior in heart muscle are discussed.

Homogenates from placentas of guinea pig, dog, cat, mouse, horse, and cow were incubated in a medium containing 1- 14 C-acetylcoenzyme A and choline to determine whether they contained the enzyme choline acetyltransferase (ChAc). Human placenta, known as extraordinarily rich in ChAc, and human fetal membranes were examined for comparative purposes. Any 1- 14 C-acetylcholine (ACh) formed was isolated by anion-exchange chromatography, paper chromatography, and/or periodide precipitation and high-voltage paper electrophoresis. Migration rates of the synthesized labeled material were compared to those of authentic ACh. Sensitivtiy to hydrolysis by acetylcholinesterase was used as an additional criterion to establish the identity of the 14 C-labeled product with ACh. The results indicated that placentas of all species examined contained an enzyme capable of synthesizing a 14 C-labeled product which behaved indistinguishably from ACh. However, except for human placenta and human fetal membranes, this metabolite was neither the only or the major 14 C-labeled component. The observations suggested that placental ChAc is not unique to man and higher primates as previously assumed.

1. 1. Two compounds were isolated in highly purified from outdated blood bank human erythrocytes and were identified as α- d -glucose 1,6-diphosphate and α- d -mannose 1,6-diphosphate on the basis of the activation of phosphoglucomutase, the rate of acid hydrolysis, comparison of the properties of the monophosphaet derivatives with authentic glucose 6-phosphate and mannose 6-phosphate and comparison of the free sugar derivatives with known glucose and mannose. 2. 2. The glucose and mannose diphosphates were found in concentrations between 0.1 and 0.2 μmole (phosphate) per ml in freshly collected human erythrocytes and in the same concentraion range in the red cells of rat, mouse, rabbit, horse, dog, cat, porpoise, sheep, beef, camel, guinea pig and pig. 3. 3. On the basis of existing data, the concentration of glucose 1,6-diphosphate is much higher in mammalian red cells than in other kinds of tissue. 4. 4. Mannose 1,6-diphosphate has not been reported previously to be a constituent of animal tissue. This compound may have been formed in the red cell from fructose 6-phosphate and glucose 1,6-diphosphate by the combined action of mannose 6-phosphate and glucose 6-phosphate isomerases and phosphoglucomutase. 5. 5. It would appear that these relatively high concentrations of glucose and mannose diphosphates are unique characteristics of the mammalian red blood cell.

— Contents (μmol/g wet wt.) of 34 free amino acids and related compounds were measured in grey matter from three areas of cerebral cortex, from the cerebellum, and from the caudate nucleus in unanaesthetized cats with classical cerveau isole preparations. Brain specimens were frozen in liquid nitrogen within 10 s of removal; thus, the values found were expected to approximate those which occur in living cat brain. Levels of most of the compounds measured were lower than those previously reported for the cat. In the case of GABA, alanine, and ethanolamine, the lower values found seemed attributable to the rapid freezing of brain tissue, and may more closely approximate levels occurring in living cat brain. On the other hand, the relatively low levels of aspartic and glutamic acids found may have resulted from use of the cerveau isole preparation. Little difference in levels of amino compounds was found among the three cerebral cortical areas examined. However, there were significant differences in the contents of a number of amino acids between cerebral cortex and the cerebellum or caudate nucleus. These differences resembled those previously observed in autopsied human brain. The content of GABA was two-fold higher in biopsied cat cortex than in biopsied human cortex, whereas the content of cystathionine was only 10 per cent of that in human cortex. Homocarnosine and α-(γ-aminobutyryl)-lysine, two GABA-containing dipeptides found in relatively large amounts in human brain, were not detectable in cat brain. Living cat brain contained two amino acids not previously reported for this species:putreanine and ɛ-N-methyllysine.

Cat's superior cervical ganglia were perfused with Locke's solution containing choline (Ch) at physiological concentration but labelled (methyl-3H), and the radioactive products in extracts of such ganglia were identified by a combination of selective precipitation and chromatographic tests. Ch was incorporated into acetylcholine (ACh), into phosphorylcholine (PCh), and into phospholipid. The rate of formation of PCh and phospholipid from Ch was measured to be about 2 ng/min of each, and this rate was unaffected by activity or by hemicholinium. Free Ch liberated by PCh or phospholipid turnover is unlikely to be an important source of Ch for ACh synthesis under physiological conditions.

Corticosterone-4-14C was injected intravenously into pregnant mice and fetal tissues were removed after 30 min. Extracts were chromatographed on paper from which zones were eluted and counted. Most counts occurred in the zones representing corticosterone (cpd. B) and 11-dehydrocorticosterone (cpd. A). At a fetal size up to 5 mm crown–rump length (about 11 days), cpd. A constituted 45% of the total counts; this rose as high as 96% (average 80%) in fetuses up to 15 mm. This appeared to be due to increased dehydrogenase activity in fetal tissue; the placenta was also highly active throughout pregnancy. In contrast, late in gestation cpd. A dropped to 24% and this was attributed to the appearance of reductase activity in fetal liver which reduces the metabolite. In young mice for the first 3 weeks of postnatal life the ratio A/B was about 1. Cortisol-4-14C was converted to cortisone but at a slower rate. It was concluded that the 11β-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase system plays an important role in protecting the fetus from high maternal levels of corticosteroid, but could in some circumstances result in the continued catabolism of biologically active hormone in neonatal life.

Samples of chromatographically pure adrenaline subjected to extraction techniques designed for biological tissues and fluids produced more than one spot when chromatographed on paper. The formation of these multiple spots was shown to be associated With the use of hydrochloric acid during the extraction procedures and similar spots were demonstrated when the adrenaline was chromatographed from simple solution in this acid. In each case one of the extra spots had an Rf value similar to that of isoprenaline and it is suggested that the isoprenaline-like metabolite of adrenaline reported to be naturally occurring may be an extraction/chromatography artifact. The experimental evidence supporting this suggestion is discussed.

— Paper chromatography of extracts from mesenteric Pacinian corpuscles of the cat revealed the presence of glutamic acid, glutamine, aspartic acid and alanine as major amino acids, and glycine, serine and threonine in traces; GABA was not detected. Levels of glutamic acid (0·75 μmol/g ′ 0·37, s.d.), glutamine (1·34 ± 0·55), and aspartic acid (0·32 ± 0·22) of mesenteric and pancreatic samples of Pacinian corpuscles were determined by separation on chromatographic columns. The protein values averaged 5·2 ± 0·66 per cant of the wet weight. Treatment of the cats with reserpine or pargyline or deafferentation of the Pacinian corpuscles did not significantly alter these values.

Aqueous extracts of bovine pineal gland stimulate lipolysis in adipose tissue of the rabbit but not of the cat, and darken the skin of the frog. Extracts of bovine choroid plexus stimulate lipolysis in adipose tissue of both rabbit and cat, and also darken the frog's skin. Both pineal glands and choroid plexus were fractionated by the following scheme: extraction with acetic acid ->fractional precipitation of the acid extract with acetone and ether -> chromatography on carboxymethylcellulose (CM-32). In both pineal and choroid plexus experiments, the rabbit lipolytic and melanotropic activities emerged from CM-32 together in two zones: an earlier zone (fraction 8) eluted at pH 4.9–5.1, which contained about 40% of the rabbit lipolytic and melanotropic activities applied to the column, and a later zone eluted at pH 6.5–7.0, containing about 5% of the activities. In the effluent from the choroid plexus (but not from the pineal) CM-32 column, a third region of biological activity was eluted at pH 6.0–6.5, wh...

The posterior hypothalamus of cats immobilized with gallamine was superfused through a push-pull cannula with artificial cerebrospinal fluid. Addition of3H-tyrosine into the superfusing fluid led to synthesis of3H-catecholamines which were released spontaneously. Separation of the3H-catecholamines by column chromatography or their acetylation and separation by paper chromatography revealed that both3H-noradrenaline and3H-dopamine were released. In most experiments3H-noradrenaline represented about 10 to 25% of total3H-catecholamines. Superfusion of the hypothalamus with amphetamine (1×10−5 M) enhanced the release of total3H-catecholamines, the release of3H-noradrenaline being relatively more enhanced than that of3H-dopamine. Determination of the readioactive compounds in the hypothalamus at the end of the experiments showed that total3H-catecholamines represented 3% of3H-tyrosine. About 15% of the total3H-catecholamines were due to3H-noradrenaline and 85% to3H-dopamine.

1. After intravenous injections of radioactive thyroxine into cats, about half the radioactivity excreted in the bile was in a glucuronide fraction, which, after hydrolysis with β-glucuronidase, gave rise to radioactive thyroxine and a radioactive substance that ran with 3,3′,5′-tri-iodothyronine on paper chromatography in two dimensions. 2. The proportion of the total radioactivity in the bile in the glucuronide fraction was unaffected by an intravenous injection of 750μg. of non-radioactive thyroxine. 3. It is concluded that the capacity of the liver for forming the glucuronides of thyroxine and its metabolites is at least as great in cats as in monkeys. 4. These findings are discussed in relation to the question whether the liver contains one or more than one UDP-glucuronic acid glucuronyltransferase.

Tissue extracts of the urinary bladder of the rat, cat and guinea-pig contain an acetylcholine-like substance which is considered to be stored predominantly in post-ganglionic nerve fibres. An acetylcholine-like substance was liberated into the fluid bathing the isolated bladder of the guinea-pig and its output was increased 200-fold after transmural stimulation. The acetylcholine-like substance, both from bladder extracts (rat, cat and guinea-pig) and perfusates (rat), was found at the same Rf value as acetylcholine chloride when separated by paper chromatography in three solvent systems. It is concluded that the substance was acetylcholine.

1. 1. The sera of human, cattle, sheep, pig, horse, rabbit, rat, guinea pig, dog, cat, tortoise, frog, bull frog, carp, and eel were separated on paper electrophoresis. The localization of trypsin and chymotrypsin inhibitors were observed with the serum protein fractions, using anilide substrates. 2. 2. The localization curves were compared with the cross diagrams of the sera against trypsin and chymotrypsin, except tortoise. 3. 3. Bovine α2-globulin fraction was found to activate the hydrolysis of benzyol - spl - tryosine -p- nitroanilide by chymotrypsin.

The fluorescent property of the subretinal tapetum of various mammals was first reported by Hosoya in 1929. 1 Recent investigations on the composition of this tissue have revealed the presence of zinc cysteinate in high concentrations in the tapeta of carnivores 2,3 and the occurrence of crystals of riboflavin in the tapetum of the lemur. 4 We recently observed the striking fluorescence of the tapetum lucidum cellulosum of the cat and undertook the identification of the substance responsible for this fluorescence in an attempt to gain some understanding of its role, if any, in vision. Material and Methods Spectral grade butanol essentially free from fluorescent impurities was obtained from Fisher Scientific Company. Riboflavin, flavin mononucleotide (FMN), and flavin adenine dinucleotide (FAD) were products of the Sigma Chemical Company. Ascending paper chromatography on strips of Whatman No. 1 chromatography paper was carried out with the following solvent mixtures 5 : A, butanol

The formation of phenolic end products from tyrosine metabolism was investigated in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) of cats after the administration of 3 H-tyrosine, 200 μCi intracisternally. Metabolites from dopamine, noradrenaline, tyramine, octopamine and from transamination were searched for at various times, from 10 min to 3 hr, after the 3 H-tyrosine injection. Chromatographic evidence is presented for the formation of 3 H- p -droxyphenylacetic acid and 3 H- p -hydroxyphenyllactic acid. The former acid was the major metabolite and analyses of serial samples of CSF showed that the acid was present in high amounts as early as 10 min after the 3 H-tyrosine injection and that considerable radioactivity could be detected also in the 3 hr samples. Relative to the total radioactivity, the highest amounts of 3 H- p -hydroxyphenylacetic acid were formed between l.5 and 3 hr after the 3 H-tyrosine administration. The labelled phenolic acid was also demonstrated in different brain regions both after intracisternal and systemic administration of 3 H-tyrosine. The amounts of 3 - p -hydroxyphenylacetic acid formed in CSF were not markedly altered by pretreating the cats with a monoamine oxidase inhibitor (pargyline). It is thought likely that 3 H- p -hydroxyphenylacetic acid and 3 H- p -hydroxyphenyllactic acid are formed by transamination of 3 H-tyrosine through the p -hydroxyphenylpyruvate pathway. The results are discussed in the light of the possible functional relation of transamination to the metabolism of tyrosine as a precursor of catecholamines.

[1-14C]-Naphthol and [8-14C]2-naphthol (25 mg/kg) injected into cats were excreted in the urine almost entirely as sulphate conjugates. Only about 1–2% of the dose appeared as naphthylglucuronides. 1-Naphthol gave entirely 1-naphthylsulphate whereas 2-naphthol gave 2-naphthylsulphate and an unidentified hydroxynaphthylsulphate in the ratio of 4 : 1.When [8-14C]2-naphthol was injected into pigs (dose 25 mg/kg) it was excreted mainly as 2-naphthylglucuronide with a small amount of 2-naphthyl sulphate (ratio about 15 : 1), but when [1-14C]1-naphthol was injected, 1-naphthylglucuronide and 1-naphthylsulphate were excreted in the ratio of 2 : 1. The pig, therefore, formed substantial amounts of 1-naphthylsulphate but not of 2-naphthylsulphate.The cat excreted injected [14C]morphine mainly as morphine 3-sulphate and [14C]phenacetin as 4-acetamidophenylsulphate, but injected [3H]phenolphthalein was excreted as the glucuronide and sulphate in the ratio of 3 : 2. The cat, therefore, formed substantial amounts of p...