Abstract
Although acacia has been used extensively for intravenous injection in shock and more recently in nephrosis, its ultimate fate in the organism is unknown.
In the course of some experiments on the effect of repeated injections of gum acacia on rabbits, it was found that acacia disappeared from the blood after 3 to 4 days and that none appeared in the urine except in traces after administration of as much as 10 cc. of 30% solution. The following experiments were carried out to determine what had happened to it.
Two to 10 cc. of a 30% solution of acacia were injected into the heart of rabbits every third day until from 5 to 25 gm. had been given. The animals were killed and the kidney, spleen, liver, and a piece of leg muscle were removed for analysis. The tissues were weighed at once, minced, and a weighed sample was ground with sand. This was extracted with 20% trichloracetic acid followed by hot water, and the filtrates were combined in a volumetric flask. Acacia was determined in aliquot portions by the method of Young-burg. 1 The Youngburg method was checked with solutions of acacia and found to yield 13.5% furfural. This was the factor used in calculating the acacia values. The values for acacia in the liver ranged from 60 to 70%. The results in all experiments are probably plus or minus 10%. Determinations on control animals gave small blanks for pentose, possibly from nucleotides. 2 All pentose values were calculated to acacia for purposes of comparison.
In one of 5 strictly comparable experiments a 2 kg. rabbit was injected with 3-4 cc. of a 30% acacia solution every third day until 4.8 gm. had been given.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.