i8o 
Lecithin. 
(  Am.  jour.  Pharm. 
[      April,  1914. 
The  Importance  of  Lecithin  in  Metabolism  and  Nutrition. 
After  the  favourable  effect  of  lecithin  upon  phosphorus  metab- 
olism and  upon  nitrogen  metabolism  had  been  established,  first  by 
Selenski  and  later  by  Serono  and  Charrin,  Desgrez  and  Zaky,  ex- 
perimenting on  animals,  proved  that  feeding  with  lecithin  leads  to 
a  lasting  retention  of  phosphorus.  According  to  their  observations, 
phosphorus  is  used  for  bone-formation  and  for  building  up  the 
brain;  they  were  also  able  to  prove  that  after  feeding  with  lecithin 
the  amount  of  lecithin  in  the  brain  was  appreciably  increased.  The 
favourable  influence  exerted  by  lecithin  upon  metabolism  in  general 
and  upon  retention  of  phosphorus  in  particular,  led  the  two  observers 
to  undertake  more  exhaustive  observations  on  guinea-pigs,  in  which 
they  found  that  it  was  not  the  glycerophosphoric  acid,  but  the  choline 
which  diminished  the  excretion  of  phosphorus  and  causes  an  in- 
crease in  the  body-weight, — e.g.,  that  the  action  of  lecithin  depends 
upon  its  basic  components.  Hatai  was  able  to  confirm  the  favourable 
influence  exerted  by  lecithin  upon  growth.  He  treated  white  rats 
belonging  to  one  and  the  same  brood,  some  with  lecithin  and  some 
without,  and  obtained  the  surprising  result  that  the  animals  treated 
with  lecithin  thrived  considerably  better,  indeed  they  increased  in 
body-weight  by  60  per  cent,  more  than  the  other  animals.  Internal 
administration  brought  about  the  best  results,  but  better  growth 
of  the  animals  was  also  observed  after  subcutaneous  administration. 
Danilewski  noticed  that  tadpoles  grew  with  extraordinary 
rapidity  under  the  influence  of  lecithin,  and  he  therefore  tried  the 
drug  in  young  dogs.  He  found  that  the  subcutaneous  and  internal 
administration  of  lecithin  is  a  great  incentive  to  bodily  growth,  im- 
provement of  the  blood  and  increase  of  the  brain,  which  he  explains 
as  an  acceleration  of  the  bioplastic,  morphogenous  processes.  He 
observed  especially  that  the  dogs  treated  with  lecithin  appeared 
much  more  lively,  more  intelligent  and  physically  stronger  than 
the  control  animals.  For  his  experiments  he  employed  an  emulsion 
of  lecithin  in  physiological  salt  solution,  of  which  he  injected  doses 
of  0.02  to  0.05  gramme  of  lecithin  under  the  skin  of  the  abdomen, 
or  gave  double  this  dose  by  mouth.  In  further  experiments  on  the 
blood-forming  properties  of  the  spleen  and  the  bone  marrow, 
Danilewski  and  Selenski  arrived  at  the  conclusion  that  lecithin  plays 
an  important  part  in  the  haematopoietic  processes  which  take  place 
in  these  organs.    This  assumption  gains  in  probability  when  it  is 
