WE have reported in a previous note2, that under certain conditions extracts of the adrenal medulla show an activity which cannot be explained by the adrenaline present. This activity was apparently due to a substance similar to adrenaline, but more potent than the latter. Till a chemical name can be substituted we propose to call this substance "Novadrenine."It is not the object of the present paper to give an exhaustive analysis of the physiological activity of novadrenine. We only want to give fuller evidence of the existence of such a substance, and to call the attention of research workers to this field of investigation. The present authors feel incompetent to give a definite physiological analysis, and are greatly hampered in their work by the lack of material.The existence of novadrenine is based on the observation, that under certain conditions the potency of adrenal extracts is 10-15 times higher than would correspond to their adrenaline content, estimated chemically by a colorimetric method. This high activity was only observed if the glands were excised soon after death and cooled carefully. In a great number of experiments the adrenaline content of the ox medulla was estimated colorimetrically and was found to lie between 1-2 mg. per g. of tissue, whether the extract showed a high physiological activity or not. In active extracts the physiological activity corresponded to an adrenaline content of 15-30 mg. of adrenaline per g. of medulla, a difference which could hardly be explained by an experimental error. If this latter value were correct, the gland would contain 10-15 p.c. of adrenaline by dry weight, which is impossible. It was also frequently observed that during chemical manipulations the excess activity of the extracts suddenly disappeared, the values obtained by chemical analysis and physiological estimation being then in close agreement.
Fatty livers were produced in guinea pigs by the repeated feeding or injection of ethionine; the acinar cells of the pancreas were also affected in some of the animals. Marked changes in plasma coagulability always occurred as well as a definite reduction in complement titer in which two or more of the major complement components were involved. Methionine displayed some protective effect against the fatty liver induced by the ethionine and was partially effective in controlling the coagulative changes and the decline in complement titer. In some animals, choline likewise ameliorated these conditions, whereas cystine tended to aggravate them. A combination of cystine and choline was more effective than choline alone.
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