ANTI-ENZYME IMMUNITY 



235 



They isolated, as substantiating evidence, a substance closely re- 

 sembling hyaluronic acid from the skin of rabbits. When acted upon 

 by testicular hyaluronidase, the skin hyaluronic acid was hydrolyzcd 

 in the same way as the hyaluronic acids isolated from other sources. 

 Salivary, gastric and duodenal mucin, and mucin of the uterine cervix 

 were not hydrolyzed by hyaluronidase. 



Robertson, et at. (1940), experimenting with a purified enzyme 

 (mucinase) from CI. -perfringens Cn/elchiO arrived practically at the 

 same conclusion that Chain and Duthie had reached regarding the 

 nature and properties of hyaluronidase. Their enzyme preparation 

 was 900-fold more active than the original filtrate. In contrast to the 

 findings of Meyer, et al., however, and in agreement with Chain and 

 Duthie, their enzyme preparation had no effect on human or swine 

 gastric mucin, salivary mucin (human) or the chondroitin-sulfuric 

 acid obtained from cartilage. Viscous solutions of mucins obtained from 

 umbilical cord (human) and loose abdominal connective tissue fascia 

 (rabbit) rapidly lost their viscosity and characteristic precipitability by 

 the enzyme. 



The enzyme prepared by Robertson et al., from autolytic pneumo-. 

 cocci was compared with the enzyme from welchii as follows : 



Table IX 



The data show that the autolytic enzyme of pneumococcus is not the same as 

 hyaluronidase (mucinase). 



The correlation of the mucolytic activity of hyaluronidase (mu- 

 cinase) with the spreading property has been confirmed also by the 

 reports of Favilli (1940). He confirmed the observation of Duran- 

 Reynals (1939) that snake venom possesses spreading factor, and 

 further found that venoms hydrolyze mucopolysaccharides. 



