Irvine McQuarrie 41^ 



containing potassium phosphate. When the starch content of plants grown 

 in this medium was compared with that of similar plants grown under identi- 

 cal conditions, except for substitution of the NH^ ion for the K ion, it was 

 found that the plants raised in the K-deficient solution produced but half 

 as much starch. Lasnitski and Szorenyi" reported that the anaerobic fermenta- 

 tion of glucose by baker's yeast increased on the average by about 150 per cent 

 if K (0.01 M KCl) was added to the medium ^vhich contained as other cations 

 NH, and Mg. 



Lasnitski'^"^ earlier found that anaerobic fermentation of glucose by tumor 

 tissue or normal tissue, especially brain cortex, was markedly gieater in a 

 medium containing both K and Na in physiological concentrations than in a 

 medium containing Na alone. Ashford and Dixon"' and Dickens and Greville™ 

 found that the aerobic fermentation and oxidation of glucose by brain cortex 

 could be increased considerably by the addition of a surplus of K to the 

 medium. That is, K appeared to activate the enzymatic breakdown of glucose. 



Excepting in conditions like adrenal insufficiency (serum K elevated, sugar 

 low) and hypercorticoadrenalism (serum K at times decreased, sugar in- 

 creased), it is true in general that glucose, inorganic PO^, and K appear to 

 move out of or into the blood together. Fenn"' showed that deposition of 

 glycogen in the liver was necessarily accompanied by the deposition of K and 

 water. The quantity of K so deposited, however, was far less than the quantity 

 of glycogen (measured in equivalents), whereas the blood changes would sug- 

 gest equivalent amounts. Flock and co-workers"^ found that intravenous ad- 

 ministration of glucose or levulose at a constant rate produced a decrease of 

 serum K in normal dogs. The decrease in K, expressed in percentage of original 

 concentration in the serum was not so large as that simultaneously produced 

 in the concentration of inorganic P. Sodium lactate and sodium pyruvate 

 produced similar results, but their effect was attributed to the Na ion because 

 NaHCOg and NaCl were found to be equally effective. In depancreatized dogs, 

 not receiving insulin, injection of glucose had variable effects on the level of 

 serum K. In a later investigation"^ the same authors found that injection of 

 10 per cent glucose solution, with or without cortin, or 0.9 per cent NaCl 

 solution, caused a decrease in serum K in adrenalectomized dogs. They ob- 

 served that NaCl, like cortin, when given with glucose solution to adrenalec- 

 tomized dogs, prevented the rise in K which occurred if glucose solution alone 

 was administered. NaCl appeared to be the full equivalent of cortin in respect 

 to the excretion of K and the response of the adrenalectomized dog to an 

 injection of glucose. The disposal of injected glucose occurred to the same 

 extent, and the same changes in K and inorganic P of the serum were seen in 

 the adrenalectomized dog as in normal dogs. They concluded that "the prob- 

 able influence of inorganic ions, such as Na and CI, is through osmosis, ion 

 antagonism and changes in the permeability of membranes." Long and co- 

 workers^" likewise reported that the essential chemical changes associated with 

 carbohydrate metabolism could proceed in adrenalectomized dogs without 



