Evening star., 1936-03-26
ANT|SEPT|CF FOUND
IN RESEARCH WORK
Treatment of Infections Is
Held Aided by Form
of Phenthiazine.

forth prospects of more effective
treatment of bacterial infections OF
the kidneys and bladder than has been
possible before was described before
the American Society of Pharmacology
and Experimental Therapeutics, meet
ing here today. by Drs. Floyd DEEDS,
C. w. Eddy and A. B. Stockton of the
Agriculture Department and Stanford
University Medical School.
This antiseptic is an oxidized form
of phenthiazine, a synthetic organic
compound which forms the basis for
many dyes. The story of its discovery,
as related by DR.. DEEDS, was dramatic.
Phenthiazine, in its original form as
white powder, is a deadly poison for
certain insect pests. The Agriculture
Department started to investigate its
possibilities as an insecticide for fruits
and vegetables.
Before introducing an insecticide II
is necessary to know just how poison
GUS it is for animals and human
beings, who eventually will eat the
fruits and vegetables on which 1t is
sprayed. For this purpose 1t was test
ed on white rats in DR.. DEEDS labora-
tory in San Francisco.
Turn Red in Color.
The rats turned red.
The reddening of their hair Is
somewhat obscure, but DR.. DEEDS does
not believe it is due to any internal
action, but rather to the rats rolling
around in their own bedding. The
shade of red is such that the oxydized
phenthiaZine never will be added to
the list of cosmetics.
In order to test the properties o1
this water soluble phenthiazne deriv.
ative some of the rat excretion wa!
kept in the laboratory for a few days
1t did not develop any bacterial con.
tamination-a rather remarkable cir.
cumstance. 1t evidently was a stront
bacteriacide and, in this form. passec
through part of the body before i
was excreated.
A quite common human disease i
cystitis, or bacterial infection of tn,
wall of the bladder, which is extremel,
difficult to cure, very painful, ma,
continue for years, and is likely t.
spread to the kidneys and thenc,
through the system. 1t may result
fatally. Thus far. the means of treat.
ment have been quite unsatisfactory
the chief agents being dyes with anti.
septic qualities.
With the cooperation of the LELAND
Stanford Medical School scientists
experimental cystitis was brough,
about in rabbits by placing in theil
bladders certain common forms o.
bacteria. Then they we're fed tn.
powdery phenthiazine and, says DR.
DEEDS, the therapeutic results wert
highly encouraging. The same treat.
ment then was given to more thar
80 human cases Of chronic cystitis. al
OF which had been treated previously
with the other available agents, with
little improvement.
Results Are Good"
Here again, it was reported today
the results were good" There wa.
not a complete record of cures, but
the improvement was encouragine
enough to lead the Stanford physi.
clans to believe they had a new anc
potent therapeutic drug. Much re.
mains to be done, DR.. DEEDS said
There is little data available on ths
maximum dose or the toxicity Of the
antiseptic. 1t apparently is not very
poisonous for animals, however, since
rats could be fed phenthiazine ir
amounts as high as three-tenths oi
a per cent of their total diet before
there was the retardation in rate
of growth which had been accepted
as the criterion of toxicity.
1t has been possible to synthesiz,
In the laboratory, DR.. DEEDS said, 8
substance which is identical in molec.
ular weight and chemical reactions
with the oxydized product of phen.
thiazine excreted by the rats, anc
recently a method has been devised
to make this in sufficient quantitie,
for experimental purposes. Whether
it is absolutely the same substance Il
not known
This makes possible investigation
OF its antiseptic properties other thar
for bladder infections. It has beer
possible to obtain only an extremely
dilute concentration thus far.
The new product offers as yet un-
tested possibilities, DR.. DEEDS pointed
out, for the treatment of many other
internal infections-but these must
be determined experimentally. He
stressed that the whole investigation
Is in its pioneer stages and the anti
septic still is far from the stage where
it can be used by physicians in actual
practice.
Possible new light on the mechanism
OF certain forms of cancer came from
accounts of experiments presented be.
fore the American Society for Experi-
mental Pathology today.
Drs. Albert E. Casey, Louise pearce
and Paul D. Rosahn of the University
OF Virginia and the Rockefeller In
stitute reported it was easier to infect
rabbits with certain variety of can
cerous growth when their red blood
cell count and hemoglobin values were
low and that the spreading of the ma
hgnant cells to other parts Of the BODY
proceeded more rapidly under such
conditions.