Physiology. — “On Adsorption of Poisons by Constituents of the 
Animal Body. Wl. The Adsorbent Power of Rabbit's Serum 
for Atropin”. By Prof. W. Storm van LEEUWEN and J. ZEYDNER. 
(Communicated by Prof. R. Magnus). 
(Communicated at the meeting of June 26, 1920). 
In previous publications STORM VAN Leeuwen’) and ErrLAND and 
STORM VAN Leeuwen’) have demonstrated that in the serum and in 
the tissues of various animals there are substances capable of 
inactivating alkaloids. At the same time they were able to show, 
that this inactivation is not brought about by chemical destruction, but 
through a physical adsorption of the alkaloid by certain components 
of the serum or by animal tissues. In these earlier publications it 
has already been deemed probable, that inactivation of atropin by 
rabbit’s serum is not: brought about chiefly through a chemical 
decomposition, but very likely also through a physical adsorption. 
It has been our purpose in this paper to ascertain in how far this 
supposition is true. 
The natural resistance of rabbits to atropin has already frequently 
been investigated experimentally. 
HecKeEL 5) fed rabbits exclusively with solanea without mydriasis occurring in 
these animals; they remained quite healthy and procreated even a numerous offspring, 
which finally would not eat anything but solanea. Neither in the urine, nor in the 
faeces of the animals did he find atropin either by a chemical or a physical 
method (instilling into the rabbit’s eye). When the rabbits, fed in this way, were 
killed and their flesh was given to cats and dogs, these animals did not present 
any phenomena of atropin-poisoning. From this he concluded that the poison had 
been decomposed in the blood of the rabbits. 
HERMANN showed afterwards that the resistance of rabbits to atropin did not 
depend upon an augmented excretion of the poison, because it appeared that after 
ligation of the arteria renalis, the atropin-resistance of rabbits did not decrease. 
1) W. Srorm van Leeuwen. Sur l'existence dans le corps des animaux de 
substances fixant les alcaloides. Arch. Néerl. de Physiol. Tome 2 p. 650, 1918. 
4) L. EerLanp and W. Srorm van Leeuwen. On Adsorption of Poisons by 
Constituents of the Animal Body. L. The adsorbent power of serum and brain- 
substance of Cocain. Proceedings Royal Acad. Vol. XXII, p. 831. 
5) Hecker. De linfluence des solanées vireuses en général et de la Belladonna 
en particulier. C.R. Acad. de Paris 80. 1875. p. 1608. 
