Changes in the Proteolytic Enzymes and Anti-enzymes of the Blood Serum Produced by Substances (chloroform and Phosphorus) Which Cause Degenerative Changes in the Liver

The observations of Salkowski, 2 which have shown that incubated liver undergoes "self-digestion," have been extended to almost all tissues of the animal body. It is well known that the autolysis of most tissues occurs with maximum activity in a weakly acid medi'am. Biondi ~ has found that disintegration of liver is hastened by addition of weak acid, and Hedin and Rowland, 4 using the expressed juice of various organs, have noted that spleen, kidney, and lymphatic nodes autolyze more actively in acid than in neutral or alkaline media. The trivial autolysis of voluntary muscle is not materially affected by acid or alkali, but the autolysis of heart muscle resembles that of other organs. Levene and Stookey 5 have found that autolysis of brain tissue and of testicle is favored by the presence of acid. The pancreas is not an exception to the foregoing rule. The well-known observations of Heidenhain 6 have shown that trypsin, which exhibits maximum activity in alkali, exists in the pancreas as inactive zymogen, so that fresh extracts of the organ cause little proteolysis under conditions which favor the activity of trypsin.