The salmon gall bladder is a very small organ and requires hand 

 separation from the viscera. Cooke (3) presents an excellent perspective 

 of the problems of collection and the coianercial possibilities of salmon 

 bile. He found an average bile content per fish of 0.73 grams. Thus 

 the theoretical yield from Alaska is approximately 93,000 pounds of bile. 

 However, Cooke notes that only 7-8 percent of the gall bladders came 

 through the "Iron Chink" unbrokai, thus reducing the potential yield to 

 7,000 pounds. Assuming Cooke's separating time of 2 hours per pound of 

 bile, the cost of collecting would be close to $2.50 per pound. This 

 price, of course, would be non-c«npetitive with the present selling 

 price of 75-90 cents per pound for ox bile. Thus, until mechanical means 

 of separating the gall bladders are devised or until conditions reqpiire 

 the siraultauieous segregation of several visceral organs, the utilization 

 of salmon bile as a source of bile acids is unwarranted. 



The technologies of the nucleic acids and glutathione are other 

 fields being currently investigated. Glutathione !• found in every body 

 tissue and appears to act as a coenzyme in the metabolic processes of car- 

 bohydrates. It is believed that glutathione also occupies an important 

 role in intracellular oxidation- reduction processes. Should the need 

 arise, fish waste would provide a cheap source as experiments have found 

 the spleen, kidney, heart, and liver of salmon to possess an unusually 

 high content of glutathione. A similar situation holds in the case of the 

 nucleic acids. Recent work has shown that nucleosides (decomposition 

 products of nucleic acids) are useful in treating anemia and blood pressure 

 irregularities. Should the clinical use of nucleosides and other ccan- 

 ponents of nucleic acids become widespread, the milt of salmon waste will 

 offer one of the largest and most readily available natural sources. 

 It has been shown that the solids of fish spermatozoa contain over 70 per- 

 cent nucleic acid. The sperm could be obtained by mechanically stripping 

 the mature salmon testes, which are extremely large organs in spawning 

 salmon and contain from 5 to 10 percent sperm. 



It is realized that large scale production of certain substances men- 

 tioned above may not be necessary for many years. However, these substances 

 occupy an irapxsrtant place in the biochemistry of the human body and they 

 will landoubtedly find their proper position in medical therapy. 



Literature Cited 



1. ALBANESE, A. A., and IRBY, V. 



19/*3. Observations on the biological value of a mixture of 

 essential amino acids. Science 28, 286-8. 



2. AN1»;0, KIMIKO 



1940. Investigation of the lipides of salmon eggs. The acetone- 

 soluble fraction. J. Agr. Chem. Soc. Japan 16, 181. 



3. COOKE, NORMAN E. 



1947. A note on the cost of salmon bile. Fisheries Research 

 Board of Canada, Progress Reports of the Pacific 

 Coast Stations No. 70, 18. 



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