Evening star., 1939-09-01
Narcotics Dampen
Fires Of the Brain,
Scientists Told
Test Tube Experiments
Are Described Before
British Association
By THOMAS r. HENRY.
Star Stafi Correspondent.

Star STAN correspondent.
DUNDEE, Scotland (By AirmaiD -
Narcotics, such as tobacco and alco-
hol, dampen the fires of the brain.
Test tube experiments with minced
brain tissue and slices of the cortex,
the thinking part of the brain,
which show this hitherto unsus-
pected effect, were described before
the British Association for the Ad-
vancement of Science, meeting here,
by Dr. j. H. Quastel, Oxford Univer-
sity bio-chemist.
The brain, like every other part
Of the body, serves as furnace in
which sugars and starches, the fuel
Of life, are burned" by means of
the oxygen carried in the blood
stream. This process provides the
energy for mental activities. Even
in relatively low concentrations, DR..
Quastel explained, the narcotics
greatly inhibit the consumption by
the cerebral cells of certain of the
breakdown products of the sugars
and starches-notably the blood su-
gar glucose and the pyruvic acid
which is one of the intermediary
substances in the burning
process.
Probable Explanation.
The explanation probably is to
be found, DR.. Quastel said, in some
physiological substance, as yet un-
discovered, which is extremely sensi-
tive to the narcotics and which acts
as carrier of hydrogen in the COM
picated chemical process of tissue
respiration.
The report formed part of a SYM
postum on new field Of the chem
istry of life-the precise processes by
which the body transforms food
stuffs into the energy of living by
the oxygen-combining, or burning,
process. 1t has been impossible to
study this in living organisms, but
light now is being shed on it by
improved test-tube techniques. It
Is the basic process of life itself.
Up to very recently about all that
was known about it was that oxy-
gen was breathed in from the at
mosphere, was carried through the
body in the bloodstream to keep
the fires of life going, and finally
came out as carbon dioxide, the
mildly poisonous gas upon which
plants live and which might be de-
scribed as the smoke" of the animal
furnace.
A revolutionary development, de-
elared Prof. R. A. Paters of Oxford,
has been the finding that the oxygen
which comes out of the cell in the
form of carbon dioxide is not the
same oxygen which entered. The
final combustion with its liberation
OF energy. he said, now is known
to be due to succession of oxida-
tions with we'll defined and highly
specific stages.
Depend on Catalysts.
Each stage, he said, is known to
depend on certain catalysts, or
emzymes, normally present in the
body. These are substances which
set of chemical process, such as
burning, without being themselves
effected by it. This function is be-
lieved to be served by various vita
minis, deficiency in any one of which
may make the flames Of life burn
very dimly.
Thus, DR.. Peters said, for a BODY
cell to burn molecule of sugar, the
chief form of life fuel, it is neces-
sary to strip from it two hydrogen
atoms. This requires whole group
Of catalysts, some of which act to
remove the hydrogen and others,
notable example of which is the
riboflavin found in milk, to carry
them away. Some of the members
of the well known vitamin B COM
plex act in this way, which may
constitute their basic Importance
for good health.
At least seven of these essential
engines now have come to light, it
was reported by DR.. H. Theorell. In
the past the only one known was
the so-called yellow ferment' iso-
lated few years ago by DR.. Otto
Warburg of the Kaizerwilhelm In
stitute in Berlin. Each of the seven,
he pointed out, has a difinite job
IN making possible the process of
living, and it is probable that many
others will be found later.
The Oxford bio-chemists are try
ing to map step by step the un-
known field between inspired oxygen
and expired carbon -dioxide, it was
reported by DR.. S. Ochoa. Up to
certain point, he declared, it is
demonstrated that the process of
burning" carbohydrates follows
common path in different physiolog-
ical conditions up to the point where
q breakdown is reached to a SUBJ
stance known as pyruvic acid. This,
depending on conditions, may then
be reduced to Tactic acid whose pres
ence is believed responsible for
fatigue or it may be changed to
carbon dioxide which is expelled into
the atmosphere.