4o6 Tartaric Acid in the Organism [June-September 



Cent was oxidized in the organism, the rest having been excreted 

 unchanged in the urine. 



Baumgarten^° observed that tartaric acid is oxidized as well by 

 diabetic animals as by normal ones. He fed normal and pancre- 

 atectomized dogs with tartaric acid and observed equal amounts 

 of oxidation. 



It was reported by Baer and Blum^^ that subcutaneous admin- 

 istration of 8.8 gm. of sodium tartrate, to phlorhkiniaed dogs 

 weighing about 12 k., caused great diminution in the urinary Out- 

 put of nitrogen and glucose. UnderhilP^ substantiated these find- 

 ings. His experience shows that sodium tartrate, subcutaneously 

 administered to phlorhizinized rabbits and dogs, induces disinte- 

 grative changes in the kidney tubuli sufficient to account for the 

 diminished elimination of urinary nitrogen and glucose, as observed 

 by Baer and Blum. Under strictly comparable experimental con- 

 ditions similar results were obtained by Underhill in normal ani- 

 mals, "thus demonstrating that sodium tartrate acts specifically 

 in this direction and that phlorhizin contributes little or nothing to 

 the detrimental influence under discussion." 



In a paper on the experimental nephritis induced by salts of 

 tartaric acid, Pearce and Ringer^^ found that the administration of 

 IG to 15 gm. of Rochelle salt to dogs {per os, intraperitoneally, or 

 subcutaneously) caused severe renal lesions, with the excretion in 

 the urine of casts and albumin. Anuria occurred in some cases. 

 The histological changes in the kidneys were necrosis of the con- 

 voluted tubules, with fatty changes in the loops of Henle and some- 

 times also in the collecting tubules. The mode of administration 

 did not influence the character of the renal lesions. When tartrates 

 were given by mouth, diarrhea was induced, which tended to cause 

 rapid removal of the salt from the intestine, and thus probably 

 prevented the severer types of renal lesions by reducing the amount 

 of tartrate absorbed. In 1903, MacCallum^* stated that the tar- 



ßo Baumgarten : Zeit. f. exp. Path. u. Ther., 1905, ii, p. 53- 

 ßißaer and Blum: Hofmeister' s Beitr., 1907, x, p. 80; ibid., 1908, xi, p. 102; 

 Arch. f. exp. Path. u. Pharm., 191 1, Ixv, p. i. 



52 Underhill: Jour. Biol. Chem., 1912, xii, p. 115. 



53 Pearce and Ringer : Jour. Med. Res., 1913, xxix, p. 57. 

 5* MacCallum : Amer. Jour. PhysioL, 1903, x, p. loi. 



