242 DEFENSE AGAINST NON-ANTIGENIC POISONS 



Oxidation, which has abeady been mentioned as a means of de- 

 struction of bacterial toxins, is naturally one of the most effective 

 agents in the destruction of simpler organic substances, since the 

 ordinary decomposition of all organic food-stuffs is through oxidation. 

 There are numbers of specific examples of the conversion of a poisonous 

 into a less poisonous or non-poisonous substance by oxidation. All 

 acids of the fatty acid series are oxidized vigorously in the body, 

 eventually into CO2 and H2O; and pathologically produced acetic 

 and lactic acids are destroyed in this way. The hver contains an 

 oxidase destroying alcohol, which is not increased in the livers of 

 animals made tolerant to alcohol (J. Hirsch).-^ Uric acid is oxidized 

 vigorously by many organs (except in man), as are other members of 

 the purine series, such as caffeine and theobromine. Presumably oxi- 

 dation of organic poisons as well as of food-stuffs is brought about by 

 the oxidizing enzymes of the cells, as shown by Ehrlich's indophenol 

 reaction, which consists of the oxidation of paraphenylene diamine 

 and a-naphthol, with a resulting synthesis. This reaction is said by 

 Lillie^'^ to occur principally in and about the cell nuclei or cell 

 membranes. 



Combination, with or without Preliminary Oxidation. — Oxi- 

 dation is also an essential preliminary step to many of the protect- 

 ing combinations, in which a cell constituent is united to an organic 

 poison. The most important of these combining substances are: 



1. Sulphuric Acid. — One of the earliest and most important observa- 

 tions on the protective action of sulphuric acid was made by Baumann 

 and Herter,-- who showed that phenol is eliminated as a potassium 

 salt of the sulphuric acid derivative, as follows: 



CeHsOH + HO-SO3K = C^HsO-SOsK + HoO, 



a reaction that has been put to practical use in treating phenol poison- 

 ing. As phenol and cresols are produced constantly in intestinal de- 

 composition, this reaction is undoubtedly of great service, since the 

 salt formed is relatively harmless. Indole and skatole are similarly de- 

 toxicated by being converted into corresponding salts, but onh' after 

 a preliminary oxidation into indoxyl and skatoxijl, according to the 

 following reaction : 



C(OH) C-O-SO2OK. 



CaH4<^^CH + HO— SOjOK =C«hZ^CH + H2O. 



NH NH 



(indoxyl) (indican) 



" Biochem. Zeit., 1916 (77), 129. 



" Zdt. physiol. Cliem., 1877 (1), 247. 



