CHEMICAL INVESTIGATIONS OF THE CENTRAL NERVOUS SYSTEM UNDER NORMAL AND PATHOLOGIC CONDITIONS

Abstract

INTRODUCTION For a study of the chemical changes in the central nervous system in pathologic conditions, general paralysis was chosen because these cases show, both macroscopically and microscopically, perhaps the greatest amount of change and a chemical examination should, therefore, indicate the greatest variation from normal, if such variations can be demonstrated by chemical methods. Data dealing with the influence or effect of disease on the chemical constituents of the nervous system are still very meager. None of the older investigators made any attempts at a quantitative study of changes in the chemical composition of nerve tissue under pathologic conditions except to determine the percentage of water and very often also the total amount of phosphorus. That much of the earlier work on the chemistry of pathologic nerve tissue is so incomplete was due to a lack of knowledge of the substances to be estimated so that a more accurate