ENDOrilEXOL REACTION ()9 



ing al)S(Mit from the polynuclcar colls. '^ The observation of Natalie 

 Siebci-*'' that oxidases of the blood and of vegetable origin destroy 

 diphtheria toxin rapidly, and also tetanus toxin and ricin, has been 

 confirmed by Loewenstein as far as destruction by peroxide, with or 

 without the presence of catalase, is concerned. Oxidation is un- 

 doubtedly an important process in defending the body against other 

 forms of poisons, including the so-called "fatigue toxins," and Battelli 

 and Stern consider that all the oxidizing enzymes so far definitely 

 identified are concerned only in protective processes. Schmidt^° has 

 found that liver extracts render certain morphin derivatives non- 

 poisonous by oxidation. Oxalic acid and poisonous fatty acids are 

 also oxidized into harmless substances; phosphorus and sulphur are 

 oxidized into their acids, which are then neutralized. Indole and 

 skatole are oxidized into less harmful substances. 



The Indophenol Reaction. 5' — Alplia-naphthol and dimothyl-para-pheiiylcndia- 

 min, when brought together in alkaline solution, become oxidized in the presence 

 of air and form an insoluble blue dye, indophenol. This reaction is greatly 

 accelerated by oxidizing agents, and it has been found that certain tissues pos- 

 sess this property, hence the indophenol synthesis has been used for microchemical 

 study of the presence and distribution of oxidizing enzymes in cells. As the in- 

 tracellular agent which causes this reaction is, however, so resistant to heat and 

 chemicals that it can be demonstrated in sections fixed in formalin and prepared 

 by the ordinary paraffin imbedding method (Dunn), there is room for much doubt 

 as to whether it represents a true enzyme, although it has been considered identical 

 with phenolase.^- In the presence of small amounts of peroxide the granules of 

 leucocytes and myelocytes are stained with alphanaphthol alone, which Graham** 

 interprets as oxidation by an enzyme of the peroxidase type. By using a rf-naph- 

 thol and paraphenylenediamine and staining for long periods, Menten*^ has 

 obtained positive reactions in all tissues, and has observed a similar effect with 

 cholesterol esters. The evidence obtained indicates that the oxidation is not 

 determined by enzymes but apparently is dependent on adsorption phenomena 

 taking place on intracellular surfaces. 



The indophenol reaction is observed best in the granules of neutrophile leu- 

 cocytes of blood and in myeloid cells of bone marrow, leukemic blood and fetal 

 organs; eosinophiles and basophile leucocytes also give reactions, but not Ij'mpho- 

 cytes, platelets, megakarocytes, plasma cells, mature orj-throcytes, or most fixt 

 tissue cells." By using alkali-free, unfixt tissues Gierke found granules present 

 in tissue cells generally, and Griiff states that they occur in proportion to the 

 metabolic activity of the cells; they are abundant in carcinomas, scanty in sarcoma 

 and connective tissue growths generally, are not destroyed in cloudy swelling or 

 fatty changes, but disappear in infarcts and autolyzing tissues, and in tissues 

 asphyxiated with illuminating gas.*^ Lung tissue is especially poor in this form 

 of oxidative activity,^' but giant cells of tubercles contain oxidase granules.*^ 



■'^ Fiessinger and Roudowska, Arch, de med. exper., 1912 (24), 585. 



" Zeit. physiol. Chem., 1901 (32), 573. 



^° Dissertation, Heidelberg, 1901. 



^1 Literature given bv Schultze, Ziegler's Beitr., 1909 (45), 127; Dunn, Jour. 

 Path, and Bact., 1910 (15), 20; Graff. Frankfurter Zeit. f. Path., 1912 (12), 35S; 

 Rosenthal, Arch. Int. Med., 1917 (20), 185. 



" Bach and Maryanovitsch, Biochem. Zeit., 1912 (42), 417. 



"Jour. Med. Res., 1916 (35), 231. 



"Jour. Med. Res., 1919 (40), 433. 



"See Dunn, Quart. Jour. Med., 1913 (li), 293. 



56 See Ivlopfer, Zeit. exp. Pharm., 1912 (11), 4t)7. 



" Weiss, Wien. klin. Woch., 1912 (25), 097. 



='«Makino, Verb. Japan. Path. Gesell., 1915 (5), 71. 



