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Origin and Destiny of Cholesterol in the Animal Organism. 

 Part XIII — On the Autolysis of Liver and Spleen. 



By John Addyman Gardner and Francis William Fox (Beit Memorial 



Fellow). 



(Communicated by Sir W. M. Fletcher, F.E.S. Eeceived April 25, 1922.) 



(Report to the Medical Research Council. From the Biochemical Laboratory, St. George's 

 Hospital, and the Physiological Laboratory, South Kensington, London University.) 



In Part XII of this series (1921) the comparison was made of the 

 intake and output of cholesterol in normal adults on a known diet and 

 over periods of six days, and an average daily loss of - 3 grm. of cholesterol 

 was noted. The conclusion drawn was that there must be some organ in the 

 body capable of synthesising cholesterol. A similar view has been put 

 forward by Grigaut (1913), who expressed the opinion that this synthesis is 

 the function of the suprarenal glands. It seemed likely that the study of 

 the autolysis of various tissues under aseptic conditions might throw some 

 light on this question. 



A number of observations bearing on this subject are described in the 

 literature, some undertaken with the object of finding evidence of the 

 presence of enzymes capable of hydrolysing cholesterol esters, others with the 

 object of ascertaining whether destruction or synthesis of cholesterol took 

 place on autolysis. The results are very conflicting. 



In 1896, Carbonne, and again Waldvogel, in 1906, claimed to have obtained 

 a large increase in cholesterol when lecithin was autolysed witli sterile liver 

 juice. Craven Moore (1907), however, was unable to confirm this, and 

 described one experiment in which 600 grm. of human liver, containing 

 0'037 per cent, of cholesterol were autotysed aseptically for 42 days at 37° C, 

 and at the end were found to contain 0'038 per cent. Corper (1912) also 

 failed to find any marked change in the cholesterol of dog spleen on short 

 autolysis. 



Kondo (1910) attempted to decide the question of the presence of enzymes 

 capable of hydrolysing cholesterol esters in blood and tissues by the deter- 

 mination of the acetyl values of the ether extracts, but his conclusions were 

 vitiated by the presence in addition to cholesterol of other acetylisable 

 substances. 



In 1912, Schiiltze repeated these experiments, using the digitonin method 

 for estimation of cholesterol and its esters. He found that in autolysis of 

 human blood and horse blood no hydrolysis of cholesterol esters took place. 



