﻿A NOTE ON THE PHYSIOLOGICAL ACTION OF THE PROTEOSES 



By R. B. Gibson 

 (From the Department of Physiology, ' College of Medicine and Surgery, 

 University of the Philippines) 



In mixed proteoses obtained by the gastric digestion of pure 

 proteins, I observed (in 1902) that the filtrate from the hot 

 alcohol-precipitated preparation still contained much proteose. 

 The effect of such alcohol-soluble proteoses (ovalbumoses, ede- 

 stinoses, caseoses) on the heart and on body temperature have 

 already been reported.^ 



While preparing, on another occasion, the peptic proteoses of 

 crystallized ovalbumin, the hot alcoholic filtrate from the dialized 

 and concentrated proteoses was left on the laboratory table. 

 On cooling, the precipitate had a peculiar granularlike appear- 

 ance. Under the microscope, it was observed that the precip- 

 itate consisted of minute spherules which resembled closely those 

 found in the intermediate phase of the slow crystallization of 

 ovalbumin.* A barely sufficient amount of this material was 

 obtained to try the effect on blood pressure with a very small 

 dog. The fall of blood pressure typical of proteoses was noted, 

 but blood clotting was not effected in this experiment. 



This new method for the preparation of certain proteoses 

 has made it of interest to study the physiological action of the 

 products so obtained. Particularly is this so, as Pick and Spiro * 

 and Popielski * and his associates have indicated that the so- 

 called "peptone" shock of the earlier writers may be due to some 

 impurity in the proteoses employed. Underbill ^ has shown that 

 Pick and Spiro's conclusions are untenable. However, their 

 work is still quoted in much of the literature as final,* and seems 



* Gibson and Schultz, Joum. Pharm. & Exp. Therap. (1909-10), 1 ; Gibson, 

 This Journal, Sec. B (1913), 8, 475. 



'Hofmeister, Zeitschr. f. physiol. Chem. (Hoppe-Seyler) (1889), 14, 165. 



'Ibid. (1900), 31, 235. 



*Arch. f. d. ges. Physiol. (Pfluger) (1907), 120, 451; ibid. (1908), 121, 

 239; ibid. (1909), 126, 483; also Czubalski, ibid. (1908), 121, 395; Gizelt, 

 ibid (1908), 123, 540; Popielski, Zeitschr. f. Immunitdtsforsch., Orig. 

 (1913), 18, 562. See also Zuntz, E., Compt. rend. Soc. biol. (1913), 73, 50. 



'Am. Joum. Physiol. (1903), 9, 345. 



•Cf. Cecil, ibid. (1911), 24, 156. 



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