1290 
Physiology. — “The eject of fatty acids and soaps on phagocytosis” .’) 
By Prof. Hampurcer and J. pe Haan. 
(Communicated in the meeting of February 22, 1913.) 
In our former paper ®) we drew the attention to the particularly 
noxious effect of fatty acids on phagocytosis. 
Already at a concentration of 4 : 1000,000 the pernicious influence 
of propionic acid became manifest. The law of division-coeffis:ents, 
obeyed by all the other fat-dissolving substances, examined by us, 
did not lead us to expect such a poisonous effect of propionic acid. 
How could this abnormal action of propionic acid, and likewise 
of butyric acid, which was also examined by us, be explained ? 
Is it caused by a noxious effect of ions of A, or perhaps also by 
a specifically injurious effect of the anion of fatty acid? 
At that time we failed to supply an answer to this question. 
In order to determine to what extent the ions of H are respon- 
sible for the noxious effect of the fatty acids we exposed the 
TABLE 1. 
Comparison of sulphuric acid- and propionic acid solutions with equal percen- 
tages of ions of H. The solutions act upon the leucocytes during 5/4 hours; 
the leucocytes are brought into contact with carbon during 25 minutes 
‘ | 
NaCl-solution in which , Number of ERE of leuco- Percentage 
leucocytes cytes having of 
has been dissolved: examined taken up carbon phagocytosis 
: | 
AE ie EE ees 
nothing 349 101 29 0, 
H,SO, 1/1 00-000 208 0 0 > 
Proprionic acid '5);99.900 301 0 0 » 
H,SO, 1/500-000 194 13 6.7 » 
Proprionic acid 1-5/500.000 180 0 0 > 
| H,SO, 1 2500-000 148 33 22 2 > 
3 
Propionic ac. | 5/2500-000 215 52 24.2» 
1) A more detailed account will be published in the Archiv. f. (Anat. u.) 
Physiologie. 
2) The effect of substances which dissolve in fat on the mobility of Phagocytes 
and other cells. These Proceedings Vol. XIV p. 314. 
