Tissue hemolysins as lysin-inhibitor complexes

1. Lytic substances are enzymatically produced at 37 degrees C. from tissue slices or homogenates (mouse liver, kidney, etc.) and appear in the medium in which the tissue fragments are suspended. Their concentration increases with the time during which the tissue is kept at 37 degrees C. (preincubation), and is accompanied by pH changes, so that the lytic activity as finally measured is a function of both the time of preincubation and of the pH. The optimum pH for lysin production is above 7.0, but the lysins, once produced, hemolyze red cells more rapidly at low pH's than at high ones. The enzyme system which produces the lysins is inactivated by heating to 100 degrees C. for 5 minutes. Sodium iodoacetate and fluoride interfere with lysin production principally by reducing the concomitant pH shift; KCN accelerates the production of lytic material in mouse liver homogenates. 2. Comparison of the lytic activity of the supernatant fluid of a preincubated homogenate with the much greater lytic activity of the substances which can be extracted from the same supernatant fluid by alcohol and ether points to these extractable substances existing in the supernatant fluid as lysin-inhibitor complexes of relatively low lytic activity. These complexes are formed enzymatically during preincubation from non-lytic complexes in the tissue. The latter may be lipoproteins, and the highly lytic ether-extractable substances may be fatty acids or their soaps. 3. The diffusibility of the lysin-inhibitor complexes is small. 4. Lytic substances which are ether-insoluble can be extracted with alcohol from tissues as well as from serum. These "lysolecithin-like" substances exist in the supernatant fluids of homogenates as lysin-inhibitor complexes. 5. Lysis of mouse red cells by substances contained in mouse tissue (liver and kidney) is often accompanied by the formation of methemoglobin and choleglobin. Mouse red cells containing choleglobin are abnormally fragile both osmotically and mechanically, and it is possible that a process involving the production of choleglobin, accompanied or followed by globin denaturation, is one which contributes towards the hemolysis which occurs in systems containing tissue slices or homogenates.