THE TOXIC FACTORS IN EXPERIMENTAL TRAUMATIC SHOCK. V. CHEMICAL AND ENZYMATIC PROPERTIES OF MUSCLE EXUDATE 1

Abstract

A study has been made of the fluid which exudes from muscles previously kept anoxic for 5 hrs. Some of these exudates produce shock when injected into an animal. There is evidence that this anoxia results in a leakage into the surrounding tissue spaces of intracellular components of the muscle, including proteins and electrolytes. The chemical constitution and electrophoretic patterns of the exudate were described. The toxic properties of a collection of pooled muscle exudates were contained in the non-dialyz-able fraction, could be salted out between 0.25 and 0.7 saturation with (NH4)2SO4, and are therefore probably protein in nature. At least 2 proteolytic enzymes have been found in muscle exudates. One of these, tentatively classified as an aminoexopeptidase, is present in high concn. This same enzymatic activity can be found in extracts of normal dog muscles. When given intravenously to dogs, a concentrate of this enzyme produced no marked deleterious effect, and the shock producing effects of individual muscle exudates did not correlate with their peptidase content. The 2d enzyme found in muscle exudate hydrolyzes benzoyl-1-argininamide, and may be termed a trypsinase.