504 METABOLISM IN FASTING 



that the antemortem nitrogen rise is brought on by the lack 

 of fat; it might easily be conceived that the last portions of 

 the fat are liquidated with much more difficulty than the 

 principal mass of the fat deposits. According to Reicher 51 

 the particles of fat in the blood, visible as ultramicroscopic 

 particles (steatoconiae) disappear in a suggestive manner at 

 the time of the antemortem nitrogen rise. From the studies 

 of Abderhalden and his associates 52 no evidence exists for 

 the supposition that there is a change in the chemical char- 

 acter of the body proteins from inanition. 



In view of the fact that access to water prolongs the life 

 of fasting animals, it is strange that, as found by Heilner, in 

 a fasting animal (contrasted with a well fed animal) it occa- 

 sions an increase of nitrogen elimination, referable to in- 

 crease of break-down of nitrogenous body substance, but not 

 to a flushing out of end-products of metabolism. 53 



Carbohydrate Metabolism. The nitrogen exchange of a 

 fasting animal is by no means the same thing as the minimal 

 nitrogen metabolism. By feeding carbohydrates there is 

 accomplished a sparing of protein depending on the amount 

 of food, possibly (according to investigations made in the 

 laboratory of E. Voit) reaching in maximum nearly fifty-five 

 per cent. 54 The nitrogen elimination in the urine, which in a 

 fasting human being is seldom less than ten grams, may, ac- 

 cording to Landergren, be reduced by free exhibition of 

 carbohydrates and fat to five or six grams, or even less. 



The supposition that glycogen disappears rapidly and 

 completely from the body of a fasting individual has under- 

 gone, as previously stated, some modification, as a result of 

 recent investigations upon the subject of formation of sugar 

 from protein. It is now realized that in an individual ren- 



61 K. Reicher (Berlin), Zeitschr. f. exper. Pathol., 5, 750, 1909. 



53 E. Abderhalden, P. Bergell and T. Dorpinghaus, Zeitschr. f. physiol. 

 Chem., 41, 153, Iy04. 



68 E. Heilner (C. Voit's Lab.), Zeitschr. f. Biol., 47, 539. 



M M. Wimmer (Physiol. Instit., Veterinary High School, Munich), Zeitschr. 

 f. Biol., 57, 185, 1911. 



