Abstract
It has been shown by Austin and Taylor that Dakin's solution dissolves necrotic tissue in wounds and washes away blood clots. Sweet has stated that the dressing of wounds with this solution favored hemorrhage from them. We made experiments to determine whether the solution prevented the clotting of blood in vitro and wish to record some of the facts observed.
We found that Dakin's solution of sodium hypochlorite added to blood in vitro was able to prevent clotting. If blood of a dog is drawn directly into Dakin's solution in the proportion of one part of Dakin's to ten of blood, clotting is usually prevented entirely. In a few instances such blood showed the formation of small, soft clots after standing several days. In no case was there any sign of clotting when as much as 1.5 c.c. of Dakin's to 10 c.c. of blood were used, even after standing as much as four weeks. There is a slight difference between the blood of different species; thus cat blood is prevented from clotting by rather smaller amounts than are required for the dog, while rabbit blood requires rather more and guinea-pig blood needs about 4 c.c. for each 10 of blood.
Dakin's solution on standing is said to lose its effectiveness as an antiseptic and its toxicity when injected intraperitoneally. Its power to prevent clotting was found to be reduced to about half in a week and it remained at this point for several weeks. Thus of a certain sample 0.8 C.C. were required to prevent clotting in 10 C.C. of blood when fresh; 1.4C.C. when 10 days old and 1.5 C.C. when 40 days old.
Blood preserved from clotting by Dakin's solution is not affected by calcium salts but is readily caused to clot by tissue extracts.
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