AbstractsBiology & Animal Science

Note: One table in spine could not be scanned, some pages out of order. The second world war greatly stimulated investigations on the preservation and use of blood. Numerous groups of workers directed their attention to this problem and rapidly improved methods of preservation and methods for following the survival of red blood cells after transfusion. By the end of the war these studies had advanced to a point where it was evident that further progress in the field of blood preservation could be achieved only through detailed studies of the enzymes, expecially of the formed elements, and the chemical changes that take place during preservation of the blood. The research which has continued in the department of Biochemistry at McGill University since January 1940 has been under the direction of Dr. O.F. Denstedt, and has covered numerous physical and chemical aspects of the preservation of the erythrocytes. It has been supported financially by the National Research Council of Canada, the Markle Foundation and the Baxter Company of Canada. The enzyme studies were begun in 1944 by Rocklin, who studied the glycolytic activity of the red cells. The work was continued the following year by Andreae, and later by Kwiecinska and Woodford. The results obtained, especially by the latter two workers, fit in well with the Meyerhof scheme, but there have been some interesting discrepancies with certain individual bloods. It was of interest, therefore, to investogate certain other enzyme systems, particularly the glyoxalase system [...]