Am.  Jour.  Pharm.  ) 
April,  1914.  | 
Lecithin. 
181 
borne  in  mind  that  lecithin  is  capable  of  adsorbing  and  binding  in 
the  organism  various  substances  of  importance  in  the  vital  process, 
•such  as  albumins,  sugars,  salts,  ferments,  etc.,  substances  which  for 
their  part  are  readily  decomposed  into-  their  components. 
An  insight  into  the  relations  which  exist  in  metabolism  under  the 
cooperation  of  lecithin  is  also  furnished  by  the  results  of  the  inves- 
tigations of  Franchini,  Massaciu,  Buchmann,  Zuntz,  Yoshimoto  and 
Slowtzoff.  According  to  Franchini,  feeding  rabbits  on  lecithin  in- 
creases the  lecithin  content  especially  in  the  liver,  less  in  the  muscles 
and  not  at  all  in  the  brain.  The  increase  in  the  lecithin  content  of 
the  liver  remains  for  some  time,  even  after  the  ingestion  of  lecithin 
has  been  discontinued.  The  discovery  of  the  author  that  only  very 
little  lecithin  is  excreted  in  the  faeces  tallies  with  other  statements 
which  have  been  mentioned  above.  Franchini  also'  confirmed  the 
observation  that  during  lecithin  administration  an  increased  amount 
of  glycerophosphoric  acid  is  found  in  the  muscles  and  in  the  liver. 
He  also'  found  a  slight  increase  of  this  acid  in  the  urine,  though  this 
may  have  been  first  formed  from  lecithin  in  the  urine,  for  lecithin 
is  a  somewhat  labile  substance.  The  fact  that  no  choline  could  be 
found  in  the  urine  is,  however,  not  in  favour  of  this  view. 
The  choline  which  is  split  off  from  the  lecithin  during  metab- 
olism is,  according  to  the  author,  further  broken  down  and  oxi- 
dised in  the  organism,  and  appears  as  formic  acid  in  the  urine. 
Another  hypothesis  which  has  not  yet  been  proved  has  been  sug- 
gested by  Low.  He  assumes  that  lecithin  acts  in  metabolism  as  a 
fat-carrier,  the  fatty  acids  being  split  off  from  the  molecule  and  then 
replaced  by  new  ones.  Part  of  the  lecithin-phosphorus  is,  accord- 
ing to  Yoshimoto  and  Buchmann,  kept  back  for  some  time  in  the 
organism  and  is  most  probably  only  very  gradually  excreted.  Be- 
sides retention  of  phosphorus,  Yoshimoto,  Zuntz  and  Slowtzoff  also 
found  retention  of  nitrogen,  which  was  not  always  accompanied  by 
an  increase  in  body-weight.  Voltz  and  Massaciu  also  observed  an 
increase  in  the  albumin  content  after  feeding  dogs  and  guinea-pigs 
on  lecithin,  whereas  Rogozinski  was  unable  to  demonstrate  either 
an  increase  in  nitrogen  or  phosphorus. 
These  experiments  on  animals,  the  results  of  which  are  in  part 
contradictory,  have  long  been  rendered  perfectly  clear  by  means  of 
the  practical  employment  of  lecithin  in  man.  The  investigations  on 
metabolism  carried  out  by  Cronheim  and  Miiller  on  several  children 
(under  a  year  old)  are  interesting.    On  feeding  with  children's 
