AMYLOID 417 



some observations, in nepliritis the amount of cholesterol beare no re- 

 lation to tlie albuminuria, and in uremia it may be low; acute febrile 

 diseases usually show a lowered cholesterol, which is unchanfjed in 

 tuberculosis. The blood content has been reported as low in febrile 

 cutaneous diseases, but high in afebrile cutaneous diseases associated 

 with eosinoi)hilia/"'' However, Denis -'-"^ states, after examination of 

 a large number of cases, that hypercholesterolemia was found only in 

 diabetes, and that low cholesterol values are found in cachexia or pros- 

 tration, but are not characteristic of any particular disease. 



Experimental hypercholesterolemia in animals leads to a deposition 

 of cholesterol in various organs, especially the aorta, kidneys and 

 liver, accompanied by degeneration in the parenchymatous structures, 

 and excretion of cholesterol in the urine and bile ; gall stones may be 

 formed (Dewey). Sometimes lipoid-filled endothelial cells become so 

 abundant in the spleen as to resemble Gaucher 's disease (Anichkov, 

 ]\Ic^Ieans ~""). Cholesterol in the blood reduces phagocytic activity 

 and antibody formation in experimental animals.^°^ 



The ratio of free cholesterol to cholesterol esters in normal human 

 blood is nearly constant, the esters being about 33.5 per cent, in the 

 blood and 58 per cent, in the plasma ; in pregnancy the proportion of 

 cholesterol esters is high, in cancer and nephritis it is low.®°^ 



AMYLOID «i 



Virchow, in 1853, made the first study of the nature of the substance 

 characteristic of "lardaceous" degeneration, and considered it to be 

 a sort of animal cellulose, because it often became blue if treated with 

 iodin followed by sulphuric acid. To this resemblance in staining 

 reaction we owe the unfortunate, misleading, but generally used, name 

 amyloid.^- It was but a few years (1859) before Friedreich and 

 Kekule showed that the substance in question was of protein nature ; 

 their methods were very crude, but the main fact was soon better 

 substantiated by KiOine and Rudneff (1865). Krawkow,*^ however, 



sodFischl. Wien. klin. Woch., 1914 (27), 982. 



soeJour. Biol. Chem., 1917 (29), 9.3. 



80f Jour. Med. Res.. 1916 (.33), 481. 



80g Dewey and Nnzuni, Jour. Infect. Dis., 1914 (In). 472. 



80h Bloor and Knudson, Jour. Biol. Chem., 1917 (29). 7. 



81 General literature to 1893, see Wichmann, Ziepler's Beitr.. 1893 (13). 487: 

 also Lubarsch, Ergeb. allg. Path., 1897 (4), 449; discussion in the Verb. Deut. 

 Path. Gesellsch.. 1904 (7), 2-,51: Davidsohn. Virchow's Arch., 1908 (192), 226, 

 and Ergebnisse allg. Path.. 1908 (12), 424. 



82 In view of the fact that this substance is cheniically related to chondrin, 

 and that it also closely resembles this substance physically, it has seemed to the 

 writer that the name "chondroid" would be inuch more appropriate than any of 

 the many more or less misleading and inappropriate titles tliat are at present in 

 use. The very multiplicity of these terms, however, prohibits any attempt to 

 introduce still another. A particularly unfortunate source of confusion exists 

 in the use of the name amyloid for a vegetable substance, formed by the action 

 of acids upon cellulose. 



83 Arch. exp. Path. u. Pharm., 1897 (40), 196. 



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