DERIVATION OF ACETONE BODIES 437 



acid is not abnormally diminished for the depancreatized 

 dog, he thought that the increased excretion of acetone 

 bodies in case of the diabetic individual is not due to a 

 diminished catabolism of these substances but more likely 

 to their increased formation. This result, however, cannot 

 be accepted as definitive, as it is not as yet proved that 

 the loss of diacetic acid noted in experiments with the 

 ground-up hepatic tissue, is consistent with the intravital 

 catabolism of diacetic acid. 14 



Derivation of Acetone Bodies from Compounds with 

 Branched and Cyclical Chains. Thus far we have been con- 

 sidering only the relations of the acetone bodies to the nor- 

 mal fatty acids. However, the acetone bodies have also been 

 traced back to compounds with branched and cyclic nuclei, 

 like leucin, tyrosin and phenylalanin ; and the question 

 naturally arises whether these cleavage products of the 

 protein molecule can also serve as a source of the acetone 

 bodies in the living body. The author will attempt to pre- 

 sent the existing status of the problem, which, thanks to the 

 studies of Embden, 14 Bar and Blum, 15 Borchhardt and 

 Lange, 16 Friedmann, 17 and other authors 18 has been con- 

 siderably clarified, as well as he understands it, and requests 

 special attention to the points involved that confusion may be 

 avoided. 



13 G. Embden and L. Michaud, Hofmeister's Beitr., 11, 331, 1908, and 

 Biochem. Zeitschr., 13, 262, 1908; cf. also E. Allard (Minkowski's Clinic, 

 Greifswald), Arch. f. exper. Pathol., 59, 380, 1908. 



14 G. Embden, in collaboration with Almagia, Kalberlah, Marx, Salomon, 

 Schmidt, Engel, Wirth and Sachs, Hofmeister's Beitr., 8, 129, 1906; 11, 323, 

 847, 1908; Biochem. Zeitschr., 27, 20, 27, 1910. 



15 J. Bar and Blum, 1. c. 



lft Borchhardt and Lange (Weintraud's Clinic), Hofmeister's Beitr. 9, 116, 

 1907. 



17 E. Friedmann (Berlin), Hofmeister's Beitr., 11, 365, 371, 1908. 



"A. Baumgartner and H. Popper (E. Freund's Lab., Vienna), Centralbl. 

 f. Physiol., 20, No. 12, 1906; G. Forssner (Stockholm), Skandin. Arch. f. 

 Physiol., 25, 338, 1911; E. M. Fittipaldi (Naples), Centralbl. f. Stoffw., 5, 161, 

 1910; cf. also Literature: 0. Porges, Ergebn. d. Physiol., 10, 17, et seq., 1910. 



