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THE shadow obtained in cholecystography is the result of the concentration of the opaque medium by the gall bladder. Since it is excreted in the bile by the liver, it was thought that the concentration of the medium would be similar to the concentration of bile pigment by the gall bladder. It would appear that any lesion of the viscus which would interfere with the concentration of bile would also interfere with the concentration of the cholecystographic medium. Caylor and Bollman compared the bilirubin content of bile from a series of gall bladders with the anatomic changes found in these organs. They considered the amount of bilirubin as an index of the activity of the gall bladder in the concentration of the bile. Certain pathologic conditions of the gall bladder, affecting the organ as a whole, were accompanied by definite alterations in the bilirubin content of gall-bladder bile. In acute inflammatory cholecystic disease, empyema, hydrops, and contracted gall bladder, the concentrating activity of th...

Dogs excreted the same compounds in the urine after injections of radioactive thyroxine whether they were normal or had a biliary fistula or biliary obstruction. Dogs with biliary fistulas excreted more of the conjugate in the urine than did normal dogs. Dogs with biliary obstruction excreted the largest amounts of the conjugate and also showed increased levels of the conjugate in the blood. All the changes were minor, however, compared to those found after hepatectomy. No evidence was found for conversion of thyroxine to triiodothyronine or tetraiodothyroacetic acid, but the present studies would not exclude the possibility that these substances are rapidly transformed intermediates in the metabolism of thyroxine.

Application of hemodialysis to dogs has been complicated by an acute reaction consisting of hypotension, bradycardia and respiratory depression followed by instability and a mortality rate of about 30 per cent. This reaction appears to be a response to homologous blood used to fill the dialyzers. Sensitization occurs in survivors, and accentuated reactions with marked hemolysis are noted on subsequent challenge. Cross matching the donor and recipient bloods has not permitted an adequate determination of compatibility under the conditions of hemodialysis. Satisfactory hemodialysis may be accomplished in dogs by using autogenous blood or blood substitutes to fill the dialyzers.

Compounds a and b, previously described as major metabolites formed in the dog from 3,5,3′-I131 triiodothyronine (T3), have been identified by enzymatic and chromatographic technics as T3 sulfate and 3,3′ T2 sulfate. These sulfoconjugates occur together in the bile in amounts equal to or greater than that of T3 glucuronide; and with a third, but unidentified, sulfate they account for 90% of the I131 excreted in the urine by the dehepatized dog after the injection of radioactive T3. The major metabolite of T3 in blood and urine of the dehepatized dog is 3,3% T2 sulfate. Deiodination of T3 by extrahepatic tissues is extensive, but it involves chiefly the removal of iodine (nonradioactive in the compound given) from the benzene ring with the alanine side chain, and to a very limited extent, the I131 from the phenolic ring.

Many attempts have been recorded 1• 13 to produce full blown portal hypertension and esophageal varices in experimental animals. In dogs, only moderate elevations of portal vein pressure, of 12 to 16 em. above normal, have been irregularly achieved. Attempts to produce esophageal varices have been almost uniformly unsuccessful. We9 concluded in 1950, that the report of Rousselot and Thompson1 alone presented evidence of successful production of dilatation of submucosal esophageal veins as a result of chronic obstruction of the portal vein. This had been accomplished in a small group of dogs by producing silica fibrosis of the liver from repeated injection of ground quartz into the splenic vem. We have attempted to reproduce these experiments in the hope of obtaining regularly a marked portal hypertension and, in turn, true submucosal esophageal varices. These goals have not been achieved. However, progressive fibrosis of the liver, leading to marked disturbances in hepatic function, has resulted in impressive portal vein collateral circulation and occasionally in the formation of ascites.

The unidentified glucuronide previously described in dog bile or in urine of the dehepatized dog following the administration of I131-thyroxine (T4) has been identified chromatographically- as 3,3′,5′ triiodothyronine glucuronide. 3,3′,5′ Triiodothyronine (3,3′,5′ T3) also was found in smaller amounts in the free state in bile and in the plasma of the dehepatized dog. Some of this compound was conjugated with sulfate, and some was found in an unidentified acid-labile conjugate. Formation of 3,3′,5′ T3 from thyroxine (T4) involves removal of an iodine atom from the phenolic ring, and thus is the same type of reaction noted earlier in the conversion of 3,5,3′ triiodothyronine (T3) to 3,3′ diiodothyronine. Loss of this iodine atom results in biologic inactivation of these thyroid hormones. Another metabolite of T4 was found to be 3,3′ T2 which was conjugated with sulfate. Formation of this substance involves the removal of one iodine atom from each of the rings. In spite of this evidence for removal of I131 ...

SummaryIn experiments on dogs, after the intravenous injection of acacia, it was found that (1) the rate of glomerular filtration is essentially unchanged; (2) water excretion shows a diphasic response; (3) chloride excretion is markedly increased; (4) plasma proteins and hematocrit values diminish in comparable extent.

Fluorescent quantitation of epinephrine and norepinephrine in plasma of patients suspected of having pheochromocytomas is of considerable diagnostic value. The concentrations of these pressor amines in normal subjects, patients with various diseases with and without hypertension, and 13 patients with pheochromocytomas are reported. In all patients with pheochromocytomas and sustained hypertension the concentrations of pressor amines were significantly elevated. However, in patients with paroxysmal hypertension secondary to pheochromocytomas the pressor amine concentrations may be unelevated when the blood pressures are normal. In this latter group provocative tests with intravenous histamine are indicated to induce hypertension prior to quantitating pressor amines.

Total fatty-acid output in the intestinal lymph in rats and in the thoracic-duct lymph in dogs was studied during fasting and during a fat-free diet period. Daily total fatty-acid output in the intestinal lymph was found to be fairly constant during fasting or when the rat was fed a fat-free diet. There is an inverse relationship between total fatty-acid concentration and the volume of intestinal lymph. In the absence of pancreatic juice or of both bile and pancreatic juice, the total fatty-acid output in the thoracic-duct lymph in dogs was decreased to one-third or one-fourth that of the normal dog. The endogenous lipid metabolism of the intestine is discussed in relation to steatorrhea.