RESPIRATORY METABOLISM 389 



by von Brand (1934, 1935). On the basis of an assumed R.Q. of one, 

 von Fenyvessy and Reiner (1928) subtracted the Qo, from the rate of 

 CO2 evolution from a bicarbonate solution and found that the resulting 

 value was equal to the Qn» . Therefore the rate of glycolysis (acid pro- 

 duction) is the same in O. or N. and is independent of O, consumption. 

 The data of von Fenyvessy and Reiner showed that the amount of CO2 

 evolved when the organisms were in bicarbonate-glucose-Ringer was so 

 high under aerobic conditions that apparent R.Q. values of 1.7 to 3.6 

 were obtained. Therefore we must conclude that glucose -^ acid conver- 

 sion is very high in T. equiperdum. According to the experiments of von 

 Brand, Regendanz, and Weise (1932), this acid production is appar- 

 ently not a true glycolysis, because lactic acid could not be detected in the 

 medium by chemical methods. However, if we consider lactic acid to be 

 a step in the resyn thesis of pyruvic acid to glucose (see above), the ab- 

 sence of lactic acid may merely mean that resynthesis does not occur. In 

 this case the Meyerhof quotient should be zero. It was shown by Reiner 

 and Smythe (1934) and Reiner, Smythe, and Pedlow (1936) that 

 aerobic sugar destruction by T. equiperdum was as follows: 



1 glucose -> 1 glycerol -[- 1 pyruvic acid 

 1 glycerol _|- O, -^ 1 pyruvic acid -]- 2HoO 



Apparently lactic acid and CO^ were not produced. For T. letvisi, under 

 aerobic conditions, the end products were identified as succinic, acetic, 

 and formic acids, ethyl alcohol, and carbon dioxide. 



It has been suggested that the large amount of acid produced by 

 trypanosomes might be the mechanism by which toxic effects are pro- 

 duced. This possibility was investigated for T. evansi by Kligler, Geiger, 

 and Comaroff (1929), who analyzed the blood of infected rats and 

 concluded that death was caused by lactic acid acidosis. In subsequent 

 publications (Kligler, Geiger, and Comaroff, 1930; Geiger, Kligler, and 

 Comaroff, 1930) they reported the measurement of glycolysis of T. 

 evansi, having obtained even higher values (9.2 mgm. /billion/hour) 

 than Yorke, Adams, and Murgatroyd had obtained for T. equiperdum. 

 Von Brand, Regendanz, and Weise (1932) measured the glucose, lactic 

 acid, and alkali reserve of animals infected with T. gambiense, T. brucei, 

 and T. equiperdum, and found no evidence of low glucose, high lactic 

 acid, or low alkali reserves, and therefore no support for the acidosis 



