Observations on the diastase activity of the blood of infants.

Abstract

In 1917 Myers and Killian 1 described a new simple method for the measurement of the diastatic, or starch-splitting, activity of blood. In this method two samples of 2 cc. each of oxalated blood, diluted with a given amount of water, to one of which was added 1 cc. of a 1 per cent solution of soluble starch, were heated in a water bath for 15 minutes at 40° C. and at the end of the digestion period the sugar content of each sample was measured. The difference, representing the amount of glucose liberated from the starch by the blood diastase, was converted into per cent of the original amount of starch (10 mg.), and this percentage figure was spoken of as the diastatic index or as diastatic units. They reported a considerable number of findings from the examination of the blood of healthy and diseased individuals, and later DeNiord and Schreiner, 2 Brill, 3 Watanabe, 4 and Lewis and Mason 5 reported clinical studies in which this method was used with slight modification. None of the results reported, however, gave evidence of constant variations in this diastatic power of the blood, which could be definitely correlated with the physical condition of the individuals studied. Karsner, Koechert, Wahl, 6 and Cohen 7 have reported studies of the variation of the blood diastase in animals under certain experimental conditions, using this method.

A study of the diastatic activity of the blood of infants and children, normal and otherwise, was undertaken with the hypothesis that the blood of infants suffering with various types of severe nutritional disturbances might show significant variations in the activity of the enzymes presumably responsible, in part, for the utilization of food substances.