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NATURAL PRODUCTS
Another approach was the formation of art addition complex of aescin with the flavone derivative hesperidin, as demonstrated by physical measurements of the compressibility of a surface film in a Langmuir trough. Judging by the pharmacological action of aescin in rats it was concluded that an absorption of 5-10 70 of orally administered material had been achieved.
518. A well-known toxicant Langg~rd, H. & Smith, W. O. (1962). Self-induced water intoxication without predisposing illness, Report of two cases. New Engl. J. Med. 266, 378. Two cases of so-called "pure water intoxication" are described. " P u r e " refers here to the intoxication, not the water (H20); in other words there was no predisposing or contributory illness to bring about a metabolic disturbance. The patients simply drank themselves into the intoxicated state, at the rate of 10-20 1 and 5-12 1 H20 daily. The outstanding features of the condition were neurological disturbances, including convulsions and coma. It need hardly be added that both instances occurred in inmates of mental hospitals. Nevertheless one cannot but view with alarm the widespread use of a chemical that appears to have practically no margin of safety at all.]
519. Toxicity of sweat Lac0ur, J. R. & Cier, J. F. (1963). La toxicit~ de la sueur humaine. C.R. Soc. Biol., Paris 157, 1017. In 1897 Arloing (C.R. Acad. Sci., Paris !897, 125, 218, 283) reported on the lethal effect of human sweat administered intravenously in dogs. At a dose of 15 ml/kg, one certainly needed much sweat to achieve a positive result. The belief in the toxicity of sweat grew and it was also asserted that sweat resulting from severe muscular effort and fatigue was particularly toxic. The present authors pursued their studies in mice. In the first experiment one of the authors provided all the sweat. Sweat produced at rest did not prove lethal in volumes of 0.3-1-0 ml, care being taken to render the sweat isotonic by adding 4 g NaCl/l. Sweat produced in a fatigued state was concentrated up to 5 times in a desiccator and 1 ml injected into each mouse was without apparent effect. Experiments followed with sweat from other subjects, both rested and fatigued" one sample killed 4 out of 5 mice and another 5 out of 5. But these were isolated incidents. The authors suggest that early work had involved the injection of large volumes of hypotonic saline with attendant massive haemolyses that had caused the deaths of the animals. [It now only remains for someone to carry out repeated subcutaneous injections in rats to prove that sweat is carcinogenic.] 520. Guinea-pig sensitization by milk proteins Cole, W. Q. & Dees, Susan C. (1963). Allergenic properties of milk and milk proteins. A study of anaphylaxis in guinea pigs. J. Pediat. 63, 256. Advantage was taken of the opportunity afforded by the introduction of a new milk preparation S-26, containing demineralized whey, to study cross reactions between S-26, two standard forms of milk (skimmed milk and evaporated milk); the proteins of demineralized whey and protein fractions in unheated milk (casein, c~-lactalbumin,/3-1actoglobulin arid bovine immune globulin). Separate groups of~guinea-pigs were sensitized either with one or other milk preparation or with one of the protein fractions. Three weeks later, a number of animals in each group were challenged with a small intravenous dose of another milk product or protein fraction.