344 INOSITOLS 



tions of interpretation but should not lessen interest in the biological com- 

 petition between these two compounds. 



Several workers have been unable to demonstrate a competitive rela- 

 tionship between w^/o-inositol and 7-hexachlorocyclohexane.^^"-^ However, 

 the negative results have, for the most part, been obtained with strains of 

 microorganisms which do not require preformed ?/?7/o-inositol. From the 

 results of Kirkwood and Phillips, ^^ Schopfer et al.-^ and Fuller ct al.-^ it 

 appears that the competitive relationship is demonstrable only in organisms 

 which are nutritionally dependent upon m^/o-inositol and that there is a 

 second, non-specific, inhibitory effect of hexachlorocyclohexanes which is 

 not influenced by m?/o-inositol . 



wi?/o-Inositol has also been reported by Chargaff and coworkers-^ to 

 counteract the arrest of nuclear division and the tumor formation induced 

 in onion root tips by either colchicine or 7-hexachlorocyclohexane. D-In- 

 ositol and sorbitol were ineffective. The effect of mv/o-inositol has been 

 confirmed,^"' ^^ although a number of sugars were found to have similar 

 activity.^" Other workers^-' ^^ were unable to confirm the competitive 

 relationship between m?/o-inositol and colchicine in onion root cells. How- 

 ever, a more detailed study of this effect in fibroblast cultures from areolar 

 tissue of the adult rat has again shown m?/o-inositol to exert a distinct 

 inhibition of the effect of colchicine on mitosis.^'*'' Other compounds which 

 were found not to influence the effect of colchicine were D-inositol, nnjo- 

 inosose-2,DL-ep?-inosose-2,^^ sorbitol, ribose, sucrose, and glucose. 



In higher animals the toxic effects of 7-hexachlorocyclohexane appear 

 not to be counteracted by m?/o-inositol.^^"^^ The convulsive effects of 7-hex- 

 achlorocyclohexane appear to be prevented by previous administration 

 of the j8 or 5 isomers.^^ Another interesting finding is that the 5 isomer 



" W. H. Schopfer, T. Posternak, and M. L. Boss, Schweiz. Z. allgem. Pathol, u. 



Bakteriol. 10, 443 (1947). 

 " C. Fromageot and M. Confino, Biochim. et Biophys. Acta 2, 142 (1948). 



28 P. Chaix, B^lll. soc. chim. biol. 30, 835 (1948). 



29 E. Chargaff, R. N. Stewart, and B. Magasanik, Science 108, 556 (1948). 



30 F. D'Amato, Carylogia 1, 223 (1949) [C. A. 43, 9170 (1949)]. 



31 F. D'Amato, Carylogia 1, 358 (1949) [C. A. 44, 4089 (1950)]. 



32 G. Deysson and M. Deysson, Bull. soc. chim. biol. 32, 276 (1950) [C. A. 44, 10052 

 (1950)]. 



33 S. Carpentier and C. Fromageot, Biochim. et Biophys. Acta 5, 290 (1950). 



33=^ M. R. Murray, H. H. de Lam, and E. Chargaff, Exptl. Cell Research 2, 165 (1951). 



34 For clarification of the nomenclature of these inositol derivatives, see Section I 

 of this chapter. 



35 E. A. Doisy, Jr., and B. C. Bocklage, Proc. Soc. Exptl. Biol. Med. 71, 490 (1949). 



36 E. A. Doisy, Jr., and B. C. Bocklage, Proc. Soc. Exptl. Biol. Med. 74, 613 (1950). 



37 B. P. McNamara and S. Krop, J. Pharmacol. Exptl. Therap. 92, 140 (1948). 



38 B. P. McNamara and S. Krop, J. Pharmacol. Exptl. Therap. 92, 147 (1948). 



