THE NUCLEUS AS A CENTER OF OXIDATION 



W. J. V. OSTERHOUT 



Harvard University 



In 1897 Spitzer^ reported that nucleoproteins extracted from 

 certain animal tissues possess the same oxidizing power as the tissues 

 themselves. The idea that the nucleus is a center of oxidation was 

 advocated by Loeb^ who pointed out that it would explain why cells 

 deprived of their nuclei are unable to live for a long time or to regen- 

 erate missing parts. 



R. Lillie-'' sought to obtain direct experimental evidence by applying 

 to the cell reagents which become colored on oxidation. The reagent 

 chiefly employed was a mixture of alpha naphthol and paraphenylene 

 diamine which yields upon oxidation a deep purple dye, indophenol. 

 The oxidation takes place slowly on exposure to air, but is greatly 

 accelerated in the presences of living cells or extracts of living tissues. 

 Lillie found that in certain tissues of the frog (especially liver, kidney 

 and leucocytes) the colored oxidation products were deposited in and 

 about the nucleus, especially at the surface of contact between nucleus 

 and cytoplasm. 



Wherry^ applied methyl green to Amoeba and reported that it was 

 oxidized in the cytoplasm but not in the nucleus. Schultze^ applied a 

 number of stains to plant and animal cells and found that they were 

 oxidized in the cytoplasm but not in the nucleus. 



Unna^ has investigated a large number of cases by the use of leuco- 

 methylene blue and has reached the conclusion that the nucleus is a 

 center of oxidation. Unna's theories have been criticized by Oppen- 

 heimer'' and by Schneider.^ 



Mathews^ has come to the conclusion that the nucleus is directly 

 concerned in oxidation. 



^ Pfliiger's Archiv. 67: 615. 1897. 



'^ Archiv. f. Entwickelungsmechanik der Organismen 8: 689. 1899. 



'American Jour, of Physiology 7: 412. 1902. 



^Wherry, E. T. Science, N. S. 37: 908. 1913. 



^ Schultze, W. H. Verhandl. d. deutsch. path. Ges. 16: 161. 1913. 



«Unna, P. G. Archiv. f. mikr. Anat. 78. 1911. Godoletz, P. und Unna. P. 

 jun. Berlin, klin. Wochenschrift 49: 1134. 1912. Unna, P. G. und Godoletz, L. 

 Oppenheimer's Handb. d. Biochem. Erganzungsband. 1913. S. 327. 



' Oppenheimer, C. Die Fermente und ihre Wirkung 2: 790, 810. 1913. 



* Schneider, H. Zeit. wiss. Mikr. 31: 478. 1914. 



" Mathews, A. P. Physiological Chemistry p. 180. 1915. 



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