AUTOLYSIS IN INFECTION 97 



Histological changes are produced by autolysis in the organs after 

 death that are, as might be expected, much like those seen in necrotic 

 areas. ^^ At first the changes resemble those of parenchymatous de- 

 generation (cloudy swelling), and often there is an apparent increase 

 in fat, which is probabl}' due to liberation of masked fat through the 

 destruction of the protein.*'' Nuclear staining is lost (karyolysis) , 

 and eventually even cell forms become indistinguishable. (See p. 94 

 on structural changes of postmortem autolysis.) 



• Still-born children that have been carried for some time after death 

 usually show considerable disintegration of the viscera, especially the 

 liver. This is undoubtedly due to autolysis, which Schlesinger^^ 

 has shown can begin before birth if the fetus dies in utero. 



Autolysis in Relation to Infection. — According to Conradi^Hhe 

 substances produced in tissue autolysis have a decided inhibiting effect 

 upon bacteria, which apparently depends upon the antiseptic proper- 

 ties of the aromatic derivatives that are split out of the protein mole- 

 cule in autolysis. This action is manifested not only in vitro, but the 

 autolytic products will also render harmless lethal doses of certain 

 bacteria if they are injected simultaneously with the bacteria into an 

 animal. One specific class of products of autolysis which is strongly 

 bactericidal is the soaps. ^^ It may well be questioned, however, 

 whether enough of these substances ever accumulates in infected 

 tissues during intra vitam autolysis to have much affect upon the in- 

 fecting bacteria; yet this property may possibly explain the steriliza- 

 tion of old pus collections and similar infected localized accumulations 

 within the body. The bacteria themselves also produce autolytic 

 products that are pow^erfully bactericidal. (See "Bacteria, "Chap. iv.) 



Blum®^ says that the autolytic products of Ij^mph-glands neutra- 

 lize tetanus toxin, but are inactive against diphtheria toxin and cobra 

 venom. Products from other autolyzed organs and from fresh lymph- 

 glands were without influence on the tetanus toxin. The antitoxic 

 principles of the autolytic product were destroyed by heating, weak- 

 ened by acids and alkalies, and in other respects showed prop- 

 erties strikingly like those of true antitoxin. It is quite possible that 

 bacterial toxins may be destroyed by autolytic enzymes, for Baldwin 

 and Levene^^ have shown that trypsin, pepsin, and papain destroy 

 tetanus and diphtheria toxin, while tuberculin is destroyed by trypsin, 

 but not readily by pepsin, possibly because it is of a nucleoprotein 



«^ More fully discussed bj' Wells, Jour. Med. Research, 1906 (15), 149. 



^* Siegert (Hofmeister's Beitr., 1901 (1), 114) found no actual increase in fats 

 and fatty acids in autolysis even when an increase was apparent histologically , 

 although ether-soluble materials of other nature than fat mav be increased. See 

 also Hess and Saxl, Virchow's Arch., 1910 (202), 149. 



" Hofmeister's Beitr., 1903 (4), 87. 



«« Hofmeister's Beitr., 1901 (1), 193. See also Bilancioni" and Almagia.^* 



8' See Lamar, Jour. Exp. Med., 1911 (13), 1. 



88 Hofmeister's Beitr., 1904 (5), 142. 



" Jour. Med. Research, 1901 (6), 120. ^ 



7 



