Comparison of the catalase content of the tissues of the mother and of the offspring

Hasselbalch 1 found that oxidation or metabolism is very low in the infant during the first month of life, and Magnus-Levy and Falk 2 that it is high during childhood. As a result of the work of these three observers and of Bailey and Murlin 3 , Murlin and Hoobler 4 , Howland 5 , Benedict and Talbot 6 , Benedict, Emmes, Roth and Smith 7 , Palmer, Means, and Gamble 8 , and others, it is now considered that oxidation or metabolism is low during the first month of life, high during childhood, and low after the onset of old age. Warburg 9 found that during the process of fertilization, oxidation was greatly increased in the sea-urchin egg. It is also known that oxidation is greatly increased in the greening of tubers and the germinating of grain. The present work is an attempt to find an explanation for the variation in the intensity of oxidation under the conditions named.

Since we 10 had found that whatever increased oxidation in the body, the ingestion of food, for example, produced an increase in catalase, an enzyme possessing the property of liberating oxygen from hydrogen peroxide, by stimulating the alimentary glands, particularly the liver, to an increased output of this enzyme, and that whatever decreased oxidation, narcotics for example, diminished catalase by decreasing its output from the liver and by direct destruction, we naturally turned to catalase for an explanation of the increase or decrease in oxidation under the conditions enumerated.

On examination of the literature, it was found that Winternitz 11 had already shown that the unfertilized hen's egg showed no catalytic activity even after prolonged incubation, whereas the incubated fertilized egg rapidly acquired the power of decomposing hydrogen peroxide. We repeated and confirmed these observations of Winternitz.