Open AccessOrigin and destiny of cholesterol in the animal organism. Part XIII―On the autolysis of liver and spleen
Author(s) -
John A. Gardner,
F. W. Fox
Publication year - 1922
Publication title -
proceedings of the royal society of london. series b, containing papers of a biological character
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2053-9185
pISSN - 0950-1193
DOI - 10.1098/rspb.1922.0035
Subject(s) - autolysis (biology) , cholesterol , destiny (iss module) , spleen , biology , endocrinology , enzyme , medicine , biochemistry , physiology , physics , astronomy
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 0·3 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.