Abstract
Chain and Duthie1 have observed that aqueous testicular extracts contain a mucinase which rapidly reduces the viscosity of synovial fluid and causes an increase in the reducing power of this material. They suggested that the diffusing factor in testicular extracts might be identical with this mucinase and that the spreading effect in the skin might be due to rapid hydrolysis of interfibrillar mucin. This at first sight attractive hypothesis has been accepted by several workers2,3,4, although no evidence has been advanced of the identity of the two effects, other than the known fact that snake venoms and bacterial nitrates, both well-known sources of diffusing factors, also show mucolytic activity.
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References
Chain and Duthie, NATURE, 144, 977 (1939).
Meyer and Chaffee, Proc. Soc. Exp. Biol. and Med., 43, 487 (1940).
Favilli, NATURE, 145, 866 (1940).
McClean and Hale, NATURE, 145, 866(1940); Chem. and Ind., 59, 347 (1940).
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Meyer, Hobby, Chaffee and Dawson, Proc. Soc. Exp. Biol. and Med. 44, 294 (1940).
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MADINAVEITIA, J., TODD, A., BACHARACH, A. et al. Mucolytic Activity of Diffusing Factor Preparations. Nature 146, 197 (1940). https://doi.org/10.1038/146197a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/146197a0
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