654 AGENTS OF ANIMAL OBIGIN 



Panceeatinum. Pancreatin. (U. S. P) 



Synonym. — Zymine, B.P. 



A mixture of the enzymes naturally existing in the pan- 

 creas of warm-blooded animals, usually obtained from the 

 fresh pancreas of the hog (Sus Scrofa Linne ; class Mam- 

 malia ; order Pachydermata). 



Derivation. — Chopped hog's pancreas is macerated in a 

 dilute aqueous solution of hydrochloric acid for 48 hours, 

 and pancreatin, which is separated by adding a saturated 

 solution of sodium chloride, rises to the surface and is 

 skimmed off, drained, washed, and when nearly dry, is 

 diluted with sugar of milk until 10 grains will exactly 

 emulsify 2 drachms of cod-liver oil. 



Properties. ■ — A yellowish, yellowish-white or grayish, 

 amorphous powder; odorless, or having a faint, peculiar, 

 not unpleasant odor, and a somewhat meat-like taste. Slowly 

 and almost completely soluble in water ; insoluble in alcohol. 



Dose. — D., gr.v.-xv. (.3-1.). 



Adion and Uses. — Pancreatin fulfils a fourfold function 

 by virtue of the four ferments contained in it. It digests 

 proteids by means of the ferment, trypsin; it decomposes 

 and emulsifies fat owing to the ferment, steapsin; it converts 

 starch into sugar by reason of the ferment, amylopsin ; it 

 coagulates milk through the action of a milk-curdling fer- 

 ment. Pancreatin is thus more useful than pepsin on account 

 of its more extended actions. 



It does not digest food in an acid medium, but may aid 

 digestion in the stomach, before much gastric juice has been 

 secreted, during the first half hour after the ingestion of 

 food. Pancreatin acts more efficiently in intestinal indiges- 

 tion because of the presence of an alkaline secretion. For 

 this reason pancreatin is commonly prescribed with sodium 

 bicarbonate, and, if given for intestinal indigestion, it is 

 administered in pill or tablet to dogs one or two hours after 

 feeding. It is indicated in diarrhoea, when the faecal move- 



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