URINE. 319 



PROTEOSE AND PEPTONE. 



Proteoses, particularly deutero-proteose and hetero-proteose, have 

 frequently been found in the urine under various pathological con- 

 ditions such as diphtheria, pneumonia, intestinal ulcer, carcinoma, 

 dermatitis, osteomalacia, atrophy of the kidneys and in sarcomata 

 of the bones of the trunk. " Bence- Jones' protein," a proteose-like 

 substance, is of interest in this connection and its appearance in the 

 urine is believed to be of great diagnostic importance in cases of 

 multiple myeloma or myelogenic osteosarcoma. By some investi- 

 gators this protein is held to be a variety of hetero-proteose whereas 

 others claim that it possesses albumin characteristics. 



Peptone certainly occurs much less frequently as a constituent of 

 the urine than does proteose, in fact most investigators seriously 

 question its presence under any conditions. There are many in- 

 stances of peptonuria cited in the early literature but because of the 

 uncertainty in the conception of what really constituted a peptone 

 it is probable that in many cases of so-called peptonuria the protein 

 present was really proteose. 



EXPERIMENTS. 



1. Boiling Test. Make the ordinary coagulation test according 

 to the directions given under Albumin, page 316. If no coagulable 

 protein is found allow the boiled urine to stand and note the gradual 

 appearance, in the cooled fluid, of a flaky precipitate of proteose. 

 This is a crude test and should never be relied upon. 



2. Schulte's Method. Acidify 50 c.c. of urine with dilute acetic 

 acid and filter off any precipitate of nucleoprotein which may form. 

 Now test a few cubic centimeters of the urine for coagulable pro- 

 tein, by tests 2 and 5 under Albumin, pp. 315 and 316. If coagula- 

 ble protein is present remove it by coagulation and filtration before 

 proceeding. Introduce 25 c.c. of the urine, freed from coagulable 

 protein, into 150 c.c. of absolute alcohol and allow it to stand for 

 12-24 hours. Decant the supernatant fluid and dissolve the pre- 

 cipitate in a small amount of hot water. Now filter this solution, 

 and after testing again for nucleoprotein with very dilute acetic 

 acid, try the biuret test. If this test is positive the presence of pro- 

 teose is indicated. 1 



Urobilin does not ordinarily interfere with this test since it is al- 

 most entirely dissolved by the absolute alcohol when the proteose 

 is precipitated. 



1 If it is considered desirable to test for peptone the proteose may be removed 

 by saturation with (NH 4 ) 2 SO4 according to the directions given on page 115 and 

 the filtrate tested for peptone by the biuret test. 



