198 HEMOLYSIS AND SERUM CYTOTOXINS 



CYCLAMIN is also a member of this group (derived from 

 Cyclamen), and is said to be the most active of all as a hemolytic 

 agent (Tufanow). 



SOLANIN l is obtained from all parts of the potato plant, 

 combined with malic acid ; it is found particularly in young 

 sprouts, but not in any considerable amounts from normal 

 potatoes. 2 Its formula is unknown, but as it splits up into an 

 alkaloid (solanidiri) and sugar it is called a glyco-alkaloid. In 

 its action it resembles the saponins, being a powerful proto- 

 plasmic poison, killing bacteria, and hemolyzing blood in very 

 great dilutions. 



A number of hemolytic poisons are obtained from poisonous 

 mushrooms. Best known of these is : 



HELVELLIC ACID, from Helvetia esculenta, which has the 

 empiric formula C 12 H 20 O r 3 Intravenously injected it produces 

 hemoglobinuria and icterus, with hemoglobin infarcts in the 

 kidneys (Bostroem 4 ). 



As will be seen, all of these last-mentioned vegetable hemo- 

 lytic agents are essentially different from either the bacterial or 

 serum hemolysins, or from the abrin, ricin, crotin, or robin 

 group, in that they are of relatively simple chemical composition, 

 and quite unlike proteids, enzymes, or toxins. The manner in 

 which they cause hemolysis is unknown, but from their relation 

 to saponin it is probable that, like it, they cause injury by com- 

 bining with or dissolving the lipoids of the stroma of the 

 corpuscles. 



HEMOLYSIS BY VENOMS 5 



The laking of blood-corpuscles by venoms is of peculiar 

 interest from the standpoint of Ehrlich's theory, since it has 

 been demonstrated by Flexner and Noguchi 6 that the hemolytic 

 principle of the venoms is an amboceptor. As venom contains 

 no complement this has to be furnished by the blood, and so in 

 the case of venom poisoning the victim furnishes the comple- 

 ment that destroys its own corpuscles. The hemolytic arnbo- 

 ceptors of venom seem to be secreted by the salivary glands of 



1 Literature, see Meyer and Schmiedeberg, Arch. f. exp. Path, und Pharm., 

 1895 (36), 361; Perles, ibid., 1890 (26), 88. 



2 See Kunkel, " Handbuch der Toxokologie, " p. 873. 



3 Boehm and Kiilz, Arch. exp. Path. u. Pharm., 1885 (19), 403. 



4 Deut Arch. klin. Med., 1883 (32), 209. 



5 General review of literature on the hemolytic properties of animal poi- 

 sons given by Sachs, Biochem. Centralblatt, 1906 (5), 257. 



6 Jour. Exper. Med., 1902 (6), 277; Univ. of Penn. Med. Bull., 1902 (14), 

 438; and 1902 (15), 345. 



