Saul H. Rubin

Effect of Addition of KCN to Whole Blood on Indophenol-reducing Power of Plasma

Pijoan, Townsend and Wilson 1 noted a considerable loss of vitamin C in blood serum done by the Farmer and Abt 2 method. Pijoan and Klemperer 3 reported that this loss could be prevented by the immediate addition of M/50 KCN to the blood. In order to determine the difference in the concentration of vitamin C in blood with and without KCN, the following experiments were done. Forty cc. of venous blood were drawn and placed immediately in an Erlenmeyer flask containing 8 drops of a 20% solution of potassium oxalate. The specimen was shaken gently and divided into two equal fractions, to one of which (B) were added 8 drops of 10% KCN resulting in an M/26 solution of KCN. Both fractions (A and B) were then immediately centrifuged and the plasma drawn off. The separated plasma from each fraction was divided into four 2 cc. portions. One of each of these samples (0 and 0) was precipitated immediately, using 2 cc. of plasma, 4 cc. of redistilled water and 6 cc. of a 10% solution of metaphosphoric acid. These samples were then centrifuged for 5 minutes and the filtrate decanted off. Three cc. samples of the filtrate were used for the titrations, which were done by the Farmer and Abt modification of the Tillmans method. 4 The remaining 6 plasma specimens (3 with KCN and 3 without KCN) were placed in the icebox and determinations of the vitamin C content were done after intervals of approximately 30, 90 and 160 minutes as shown in the chart. The first determinations, in this experiment, were done 45 minutes after the blood was drawn. This represents the maximum time required for preparing the filtrate; the average time taken in other experiments was 25 minutes.

Effect of Meat Extract on Fatty Infiltration of Liver in Depan-creatized and Duct-Ligated Dogs

Since Fisher 1 and Allan, et al., 2 first reported fatty infiltration of the livers in depancreatized dogs maintained on insulin, the observation has been confirmed repeatedly. 3 Recently, it has been shown in this 4 and other 5 , 6 laboratories that ligation of the external pancreatic ducts results in similar fatty changes in the liver. In all of these studies the diet fed to the dogs consisted largely of raw whole meat and glucose. In the experiments reported here a dried meat powder preparation,∗ from which the extractives had been removed, was substituted for the whole meat. The diet contained meat powder, cracker meal, milk powder, salts, brewers yeast, bone ash, cod liver and corn oil. As shown in Table I, little or no fatty infiltration of the liver occurred in 6 depancreatized and in 3 ductligated dogs which were fed the diet for periods varying from 6.5 to 19 weeks after operation. The fatty acid content of the whole livers, determined as previously described, 7 averaged 6.2% with a range of 3.12 to 10.5% (Table I). When the meat powder diet was supplemented with 15 ml of a concentrated meat extract∗ (the combination of meat powder plus extract being equivalent to about 250 g of raw lean beef) the livers of one ductligated and 2 depancreatized dogs contained 18.3 to 19.8% fatty acids after 5 to 9 weeks (Table I). It is therefore concluded that the fatty liver of these dogs is due in large measure to some substance or substances present in the extractive fraction of meat.