Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-11-27
HORMONE IS SEEN
KEY TO NERVE LIFE
Two Experiments Indicate
Some Potent Chemical Makes
l. Functioning Possible.
BY THOMAS R. HENRY.

A nerve hormone-some potent chem
Zeal which makes possible the junction
Ing OF the central nervous SYSTEMS
p0Stulated to explain the curious results
OF two biological experiments just re-
ported to the National Academy Of
Sciences here.
When nerves leading to some sense
organs are severed the sense organs
themselves degenerate ard disappear
although they have not been injured
1t appears as If some chemical diffusing
through the nervous system is response
BILE not only for the capacity of the
nerves themselves to function, but for
the very existence of the organs which
receive senSory impulses.
The first of these experiments. which
open up wide field CT neurological
research, is reported to the National
Academy by George l.. Parker and Vir-
ginia L. Paine of Radcliffe College,
Massachusetts. They worked with the
'lateral line" sense of catfish. This
Is sense possessed only by fish which
enables the animal to detect movement
of the water. OF all the senses pos
Sessed by man, it is perhaps nearest
akin to the vestibular sense which is
concerned with the balancing of the
body and whose receptor organ is the
middle ear.
Process Moved Slowly.
This ''sense" has special organs in
the head and body which receive the
water movement impulses. These i'm
pulses then are conveyed to the brain
of the fish over O nerve trunk. The
inerveS of considerable number OF
large catfisheS were cut just in front OF
EA ganglion, or mass of nerve cell bodies,
sconr1ected with the lateral line sense
tdust behind the .gills. Then the catfish
fwere killed, q few each day, and the
teffect on the nerve fibers in front of
the cut aseertained.
It long has been known that q nerve
Gber cut off from its cell body degene-
rates. Hitherto the worlds foremost
'neurologiSts have held that this hap
pened Immediately, the nerve fiber
taking On such a condition that 1t
could not possibly transmit impulses.
The Radcliffe investigators found in
the first place that the degenerating
process moved outward from the cut
to the receptor organ very slowly, about
two centimeters day. Thus it could
not be nerve impulse itself RESPONSE
bic for the degeneration. AT last the
lateral line sense organ itself deger1e-
rated. The phenomenon, they conclude,
probably depends on the cessation Of
supply Of something, probably a ma
terial Of some kind, from the indicated
1CSAOG1 Va I1lC 11CuAOAl, hAI1ClI tlAdSCA 10
gradually drained off at the distal ends
of the fibers. How this hypothetical
substance is transmitted over the hbers
Is not known"
Second Test With Taste.
The second experiment, reported by
r. w. Torrey of Harvard University,
also was with fishes, but with the more
familiar sense OF taste, whose impulses
come from definite organs, the taste
buds, In the tongue and cheeks. 1t
was found that within ii days after
cutting the nerve fbers leading to these
organs they disappear. They do not,
however, disintegrate gradually through
the IL days. On the tenth day they
receive the taste impulses, regardless Of
the fact that these cannot be trans
mitted to the brain. Examined "a
hours later they have completely di-
integrated. The time required for their
disintegration can be heightened by
lowering the temperature of the pool IN
which they are kept but still they are
been found intact. Torrey postulatss
q Physiological prerequisite for the IN
tectneSs OF taste buds lin the form of a
chemical material present In nerves
which is necessary for their normal
maintenance. This material is like
wise conceived OF aS being identical
with that necessary for the maintenance
of the nerve ITSELF
This strange chemical, it is postu-
lated, comes in some way from the cell
body Of the nerve and, flowing into the
fibers, makes it possible for them to
remain in a condition suitable for trans
uniting nerve irnptlse. But the supply
of this material In a nerve fiber at any
time continually Is being drained to
tenance 1t also is necessary.
Supply Cut on.
When a nerve fiber is cut in front
of the cell body the supply of this
1'hormone'' is cut of, but considerable
amount still remains in the fiber The
sense organ starts drawing &c of. The
first part of the fiber to be affected is
that closest to the cut The draining
process continues Until the supply of
the chemical in the fber is completely
deplenished. Then the sense organ it.
self, unable to obtain any more Of the
substance necessary for its existence,
itself degenerates.
The process, 1t is believed, would take
place much more rapidly i'll warm
blooded animals. 1t was easier, how
ever, to experiment with fishes where
the temperature at which the chances
took place could be controlled with
exactness.
Airrnail from England to India dur
ing July, August and Septen1ber