AUTHOR S ABSTRACT OF THIS PAPER ISSUED 

 By THE BIBLIOGRAPHIC SERVICE, NOVEMBER 7 



METABOLIC ACTIVITY OF THE NERVOUS SYSTEM 



IV. THE CONTENT OF NON-PROTEIN NITROGEN IN THE BRAIN OF 



THE RATS KEPT IN A STATE OF EMOTIONAL AND PHYSICAL 



EXCITEMENT FOR SEVERAL HOURS 



SHIGEYUKI KOMINE 



The Wistar Institute of Anatomy and Biology 



Following great emotional disturbances in man, such as fear, 

 horror, or rage, various bodily changes are familiar; for 

 example, cold sweat, the stoppage of saliva, rapid heart beats, 

 trembling, etc. The researches of Pavlov ('10) show beau- 

 tifully various physiological changes due to the normal activity 

 of the alimentary tract following even insignificant emotional 

 disturbances, and the recent investigation of Cannon and his 

 colleagues ('15) adds to the list of bodily changes, some occurring 

 in connection with the suprarenal glands. 



I desired to determine whether there could be revealed any 

 alterations, chemical, physical, or histological, in the brain under 

 such emotional disturbances as are capable of producing the 

 various other bodily changes. So far as I am aware, there are 

 no studies of chemical changes in the brain under a great emo- 

 tional disturbance. For this reason I undertook to determine as 

 a first step whether or not the content of non-protein nitrogen 

 would change under an altered state of mental activity, or, more 

 precisely, in the state of fear or rage induced when one rat fights 

 with another. 



MATERIAL 



Albino rats alone were used. The rats were brought into the 

 laboratory from the rat house two or three days before they 

 were tested, and were kept there during this interval in order to 

 accustom them to their new surroundings and with the hope of 



69 



