Evening star., 1953-04-08
Broin Surgeons Test
Operations by Sound
Process Already Used
Successfully on Animals
By Thomos R. Henry


Brain surgery with beams Of inaudi-
BILE sound is close at hand.
It already has proved successful with
cats, rats and frogs. It's extension to
humans awaits only the construction Of
suitable instruments.
The progress to date has Just been
reported to the once Of Naval Research
here by DR.. William ]. Fry Of the Uni
verSity Of Illinois, working under q
Navy grant. Brain surgery up to now
has involved either direct cutting Of
Drain tissue or coagulation Of this tissue
with electric needles. With either Of
these methods 1t is impossible to avoid
destroying nerve tissue other than that
directly involved and there always is
serious danger Of interfering with the
blood supply. This has always been con-
sidered the most delicate kind of sur
gerry. Death or paralysis can result
when even q microscopic bit Of brain
tissue in a vital spot is destroyed.
Various portions Of the brains Of cats
and monkeys have been irradiated by
focusing a beam Of ultrasound on o
selected region, DR.. Fry reports. An
opening is first made through the skull.
for bone is bad absorber Of sound.
These experiments have shown the
possibility Of destroying minute areas,
such as might be occupied by q brain
tumor. without damage to surrounding
tissue.
Isolation Difficult.
Various brain cells, it is found, are
susceptible to different sound waves
and intensities. It is possible to ar
range the dosage to destroy nerve cell
bodies in any part Of the brain without
injuring blood vessels or nerve tracts
in the same regions. It is even possible
to destroy all the large nerve cells in
a given region without affecting the
small nerve cells.
All voluntary movements, such as
walking, have an extremely complex
brain-nerve background. In experi-
mentS with cats 1t has been found pos.
sible to eliminate certain natural move.
mentS with the legs while leaving other
movements unchanged.
1t Is expected, DR.. Fry says, that
use Of inaudible sound in treatment of
disorders Of the nervous system may
bring within the scope Of surgery q
wide variety Of conditions which now
cannot be treated successfully.
New Amino Acids.
Finding Of two new amino acids,
the basic building stones Of proteins
which in turn are the building stones
Of the body. has been announced
through the Nutrition Foundation.
Previously, 10 of these fundamental
constituents Of living things have been
known. About 10 are essential in the
diet Of human beings. All contain
nitrogen. Most contain sulphur. They
are extremely complex molecules,
widely distributed through nature, and
they are used over and over again by
different organisms in building up their
own proteins. But the amino acids
are the same everywhere.
The two new ones, however, appear
to have quite restricted use. One
was isolated from the micro-organism
responsible for the wildfire disease of
tobacco. It was reported by Drs. D. w.
Woolley. r. B. Pringle and A. c. Braun
of the Rockefeller Institute.
Has Been Crystallized.
It has been named "tabtoxinine." It
responds to all the chemical tests for
an amino acid, its chemical structure
has been determined. and it has been
crystallized.
Apparently closely related to this but
probably more significant is alpha
epsilon -diaminouimelic acid isolated by
French chemist from the diphtheria
and tubercular bacilli. It constitutes q
considerable part of the toxin released
by these micro-organisms.
The two new-found substances, ac-
cording to the Nutrition Review, may
yield key as to the cause Of the poison
Gus effect Of some Of the substances
liberated into plants and animals by in
fictitious micro-organisms. Their chem
ical structures indicate that they may
act to prevent an organism making use
of other amino acids in building up its
own proteins.