AUTOLYSIS 85 



there is mueli evidence that lactic acid is formed, and perhaps par- 

 tially destroyed, in autolysis (Tiirkel,^^ Ssobolew"). Carefully con- 

 trolled experiments by Lindemann ^*^ seem to show that even in the 

 absence of bacteria, autolyziiig- liver and heart can produce volatile 

 acids, COo and hydrogen. The increase in fat described by some 

 authors is probably only apparent, and due rather to the liberation of 

 the fat from its combination with the proteins so that it is free and 

 not "masked," as in normal organs. ^^ Lecithin is also decomposed, 

 yielding choline, but cholesterol remains unchanged except for some 

 hydrolysis of cholesterol esters.^^ Creatine is changed to creatinine 

 in autolyzing muscle, and apparently both are formed in autolysis of 

 blood and liver. ^^'"^ 



The nucleo-proteins seem to be attacked by the autolytic enzymes, 

 as the purine bases are prominent among the products of autolysis, 

 and in quite different proportions from those obtaining in digestion 

 of the same tissues by other means. Apparently autolytic enzymes, 

 like trypsin, attack the protein group of the nucleoproteins, liberating 

 the nucleic acids. These in turn are attacked by specific enzymes, 

 nucleases, ^^ which liberate the purine bases, which are further de- 

 composed by specific enzymes, guanase, adenase, etc. (See Chap. 

 xxi.) 



It is improbable that the intracellular enzymes are merely pancreatic 

 ?nzymes taken out of the blood by the cells, because of the differences 

 previously cited ; furthermore, Matthes ^^ found that the liver retained 

 its autolj^tic power after the pancreas had been extirpated (in dogs), 

 and that the autolj^tic degeneration of cut peripheral nerves went on 

 just the same, indicating that the autolytic enzymes do not owe their 

 origin to the pancreas. 



AVlienever tissues are disintegrated in any considerable quantities, 

 as after extensive burns, peptolj'tic enzymes become demonstrable in 

 the blood and urine, and presumably these are related to the cell auto- 

 lysis.^^*^ They are noticeably increased in most infectious diseases in 

 which the reaction between the body defenses and the infecting or- 

 ganism takes i)laee in tlie blood stream (Falls). ^°'' Also, in the pre- 

 mortal state a similar increase in peptolytic enzyme in the serum is 



isBioohcm. Zeit., inOO (20), 431. 



14 Ibid., 1912 (47), 367. See also v. Stein and Salkowski, Biochem. Zeit., 1913 

 (40), 486. 



10 Zeit. f. Biol., 1910 (.55), 36. 



15 See Krontowski and Poleff, Beitr. Path. Anat., 1914 (58). 407. 



1" Corper, Jour. Biol. Chem., 1912 (11), 37; Kondo, Biochem. Zeit., 1910 (27), 

 427. 



17a Myers and Fine, Jour. Biol. Chem., 1915 (21), 583; Hoagland and McBryde, 

 Jour. Agric. Res., 1916 (6), 535. 



IS Sachs. Zeit. physiol. Chem., 1905 (46), 337; Jones, ibid., 1903 (41), 101, 

 and 1906 (48), 110.* 



19 Arch. f. exp. Path. u. Pharm., 1904 (51), 442. 



loaSee Pfeiffer, Miinch med. Woch., 1914 (61), 1099, 1329. 



19b Jour. Infect. Dis., 1915 (16), 466. 



