Rheumatoid factors and Chagas' disease.

godial (1), which constitutes its chemical defense and is stored in the mantle. Thus the ability of a nudibranch to elaborate its chemical defense has been demonstrated. Dendrodoris limbata also synthesizes the mixture of sesquiterpenoid esters (2) found in the digestive glands. We believe that these esters should be regarded as products of further metabolism of polygodial as a result of a detoxication process. Polygodial is a reactive molecule that readily interacts with NH2 groups (16) and therefore could be toxic for D. limbata itself if stored for a long time. When the animal is molested, the compound is secreted through the skin. The esters (2), which are found into the hepatopancreas only, could represent the normal excretory metabolites of polygodial. GuIDO CIMINO SALVATORE DE ROSA SALVATORE DE STEFANO GUIDO SODANO GuIDO VILLANI Istituto per la Chimica di Molecole di Interesse Biologico, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Arco Felice, Napoli, Italy References and Notes