ENDOGENOUS PORPHYRIN METABOLISM 581 



by their fluorescence on teeth, in the sahva, on the tongue, the openings of 

 the sebaceous glands of the nasolabial region, and on the genitalia of women 

 (230,313405-407,2850) are probably bacterial products. Porphyrin fluo- 

 rescence has been observed in corpora lutea. 



Recently Kliiver {1551) discovered coproporphyrin and probably 

 small amounts of protoporphyrin in the white matter of the nervous 

 system of men and warm-blooded animals by fluorescence spectros- 

 copy in situ and by the investigation of extracts. The porphyrin is 

 not present at birth but is found in the spinal cord after three weeks 

 in rats and eight weeks in ducks, while it develops later in the brain. 

 It appears to be chiefly a characteristic of sensory nerves and is 

 found only in regions in which little or no cytochrome c is present. 



Pathologically, coproporphyrin and uroporphyrin are widely dis- 

 tributed in the body in congenital porphyria (Fischer, 833,876; 

 Schumm, 2J^93; Borst and Konigsdorfi^er, 322; Rimington, 922) and 

 also in acute porphyria (Prunty, 2193). Uroporphyrin has not been 

 observed in plasma and bile, coproporphyrin not in the bones. 

 Protoporphyrin has been found in the liver in porphyria (833,2193) 

 and in acut« pellagra (1004), but also in normal animal livers (833, 

 2260). Its presence in chloroma and myeloid leukemia has been 

 established by Thomas (2796,2798, cf. also 3172). The green color 

 of the tumor is, however, not due to the presence of the porphyrin 

 (cf. Chapter XI, Section 7.4.). 



Porphyrin in the bile. In human fistula bile onl.y coproporphyrin, and 

 perhaps mesoporphyrin (10(13), has been found, while neither Watson (2986), 

 nor Vigliani (-^882) could detect protoporphyrin. Rabbit bile also contains 

 coproporphyrin, dog bile none or very little (406). After administration of 

 lead, protoporphyrin has been found in the bile (2912). Ox bile contains in 

 addition porphyrins derived from chlorophyll, such as phylloporphyrin 

 (2351,2354) and phylloerythrin. In man chlorophyll probably gives rise 

 only to weakly basic porphyrins, such as phylloerythrin, which is also found 

 in the feces (Brugsch, 366). 



Depo,ntion of uroporphyrin in bones. Uroporphyrin is normally 

 deposited in fetal bones (Fikentscher, 758) in small amounts; in much 

 larger amounts it is found in the bones in congenital porphyria of 

 man and animals (cf. Sec. 3.3.4.). This was first observed in the case 

 of a patient, Petry, by Fischer (779,781,782,784,785,833,845) and 

 Schumm (2506) and confirmed by other workers (447,755,922,923, 

 2257). FrJinkel (939, cf. also 759,767,772,2148) found that uropor- 

 phyrin injected into guinea pigs is deposited in young growing 

 bones and teeth, and also in new bone, formation after fractures. 



