SERUM ENZYMES 531 



sis, probably owing to the absorption of antiferments from the blood 

 serum. The identification of complement with lipase has been sug- 

 gested. The idea gains likelihood from the fact that both complement 

 and lipase are destroyed by lipoid solvents and that many of the 

 substances upon which complement acts, such as red blood cells, 

 contain lipoid constituents. On the other hand, no definite knowl- 

 edge is available in this regard, and it has been so far impossible 

 to prove even the enzymotic nature of complement, though this, at 

 least, seems likely. The peculiar resistance exhibited by bacteria to 

 digestion by ferments has already been alluded to. 



It develops therefore that the antiferments in the blood are ex- 

 tremely important factors in maintaining the balance of enzyme 

 activity, and in consequence the antienzymatic properties of serum 

 have been investigated by many workers. For, depending upon their 

 fluctuation, cleavage processes are permitted or prevented from tak- 

 ing place in the circulating blood. The earliest workers concerned 

 themselves largely with the phenomenon that blood serum would 

 prevent the proteolytic activity of leucocytes. They utilized the ob- 

 servation therapeutically by injecting serum into suppurating ab- 

 scesses for the purpose of preventing tissue destruction by leuco- 

 protease and increasing the ability of the body to limit the processes. 

 Indeed it may be that this form of therapy in chosen cases may still 

 have possibilities. 



Later investigators studied antiferment fluctuations in disease. 

 In septic conditions, Wiens 20 claims to have noticed a diminution 

 of serum antiferments. Similar observations have been made after 

 shock in anaphylaxis by Pfeiffer and Jarisch. In patients with can- 

 cer, Landois 21 claimed to have noticed a marked increase in anti- 

 ferments, which for a time was believed to be sufficiently regular to 

 have diagnostic significance. Brenner 22 noticed the same phe- 

 nomenon in severe anemias. In cachexia the same phenomenon has 

 been noticed and fluctuations in this constituent have been noticed 

 in a great many different diseases, such as diabetes, pneumonia, etc., 

 without our being at present in possession of any definite or corre- 

 lated knowledge of the principles upon which these fluctuations de- 

 pend. 



Earlier observers believed that the anti-ferment in the blood was 

 a function of the albumin fraction of the serum. More recent work- 

 ers have attributed it to lipoid constituents. Schwarz, 23 Sugimoto, 24 

 and Kirchheim suggested the lipoid idea because of the fact that 



20 Wiens. Munch, med. Woch., No. 53, 1907. 



21 Landois. Berl. klin. Woch., No. 10, 1909. 



22 Brenner. Deutsch. med. Woch., No. 9, 1909, and Mediz. Klinik, No. 28, 

 1909. 



23 Schwarz. Wien. klin. Woch., 22, 1909. 



24 Sugimoto. Arch. f. Ex^. Path. u. Pharmakol, Vol. 74, 1913. 



