Evening star., 1949-07-08
Chemical Found in Brain
Studied at St. EIizubeths
Substance May Play Important Part
In Normal and Disordered Thinking
Bv Thomas r. Henry

BY Thomas r. Henry
A chemical in the brain which may play
an important part in normal thinking and
in the disordered thinking which consti-
tuteS insanity is being intensvely investi-
gate dat st. Elizabeths Hospital.
This substance Is carbonic anhydrase. 1t
is an engine, a substance whose presence
Is necessary for a physiological chemical
reaction to take place although it does not
enter into the reaction itself. There are
presumably several thousand such engines
in the human body, most of them existing
in infinitesimal amounts.
An important part of this engine is zinc.
1t has long been known that microscopic
amounts Of zinc are essential in the human
diet. but the reason for this never has been
clear.
Actual Function Unknown.
The actual function of carbonic anhy-
drase is unknown, but some remarkable
relationships have been uncovered in the
St. Elizabeths Investigations, according to
report to the American Neurological
Society by Dr. Winifred Ashby
l. 1t is found chiefly in the central nerv-
Gus system. The amount present in the
nerve cells increases progressively from
lower to higher levels, reaching its greatest
concentration in the higher strata of the
brain.
2, 1t is considerably more abundant in
primate brains-man and the great apes
than in sub-primates such as the monkeys.
g. 1t makes its first appearance in tho
brain of the infant at about the time this
organ starts to function
4. There is growing evidence that there is
different distribution of this engine in
brains of mentally normal and abnormal
persons.
Engine Found Stable.
Fortunately for the investigation, DR..
Ashby explains, the engine is extremely
stable even after the death of the individual
and can be recovered in full amount at
autopsies.
The present theory, admittedly tenuous.
is that in the psychoses deficiency OF the
substance occurs in some part of the brain
while a normal amount remains in other
parts. AS result the mental balance is up-
set, short circuits in thinking take place,
and all sorts of weird behavior results.
At present there is no known way OF
getting extra amounts of the engine into
the brain. The St. EliZabeths PSYCHOLOGISTS
are at work on this problem. If it is solved
there will remain the necessity of getting
the engine into the right parts Of the brain.
Naturally a great deal in research is being
devoted to the possible effects OF extra zinc
in the diet and the mental effects of zinc
def1clent 0letS. Inere is no real evidence
however, that anybody does not get enough
of this element.
Activities Interplay.
I'VE know" says DR.. Ashby, that IN the
metabolic cycles constituting the life OF the
cell there are groups of engines whose
activities interplay. They take over pro-
cess step by step, as in an assembly line. to
accomplish given chemical necessity. Ger
tain of the engines in such chain will
exhibit less activity than others. These will
produce funneling of the system and de-
termine its rate.
1T would seem necessary that in the
event of any deterioration in engine pro-
duction in the brain, the hazard to its nor
NAL functioning would be greatest with re-
spect to those engines constituting the
limiting factors in the chain reactions more
especially involved in that activity OF the
neurones which accompanies thinking. 1t
is these engines which we wish to study in
relation to functional mental sickness
Carbonic anhydrase, she says, fulfllls all
the criteria for such an engine. There may
be several others, as yet unsuspected, which
play part in the thought process.
The probability that this particular
engine is concerned with normal mental
life, she points out, is increased by the fact
that a means has been found of inhibiting
its action in animals and that various be-
havior abnormalities follow.