The effect of calcium pectinate gel implants on the healing of experimental defects in the femora of albino rats.

The history of the medicinal use of pectin goes back for several centuries. A printed recommendation for its use in the form of scraped apple appeared in an English book in 1775 as a remedy for diarrhoea and dysentry [Kertesz, 1951]. This is still its most important medicinal application and, combined with kaolin, it forms the basis of most antidiarrhoeal preparations. In recent times its range of medicinal uses has increased considerably. Parcnterally administered solutions of pectin were shown to have haemostatic properties and to increase the rate of coagulation of blood [Violle and de Saint Rat, 1925]. Pectic substances also have an affinity for heavy metal ions, and are good antidotes for heavy metal poisoning [Stuewer and Olsen, 1940], The action of many drugs is prolonged by injecting them in combination with a pectin solution which has the effect of retarding their rate of absorption [Kertesz, 1951].