The fate of certain organic acids and amides in the rabbit; further observations on the hydrolysis of amides by tissue extracts.

Studies of the amidase activity ofextracts of various animal tissues have been reported in earlier papers (Bray, James, Ryman & Thorpe, 1948; Bray, James, Raffan, Ryman & Thorpe, 1949a; Bray, Thorpe & Wood, 1949c; Bray, James, Thorpe, Wasdell & Wood, 1949 b). The present paper records further observations, including the behaviour of the enzyme towards some saturated long-chain and w-phenylsubstituted aliphatic amides andthe effect ofincrease in chain length on the degree of hydrolysis. The action of the enzyme upon amides previously examined has been reinvestigated in the absence of chloroform, which was used as a preservative in earlier experiments, since it was found that this substance had some retarding effect on amidase activity (Bray et al. 1949b). Some other amides have also been examined. The amides studied can be divided into three