The Action of Certain Reagents on Amoeboid Movement

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Abstract
1. Locomotion. This does not occur to any appreciable extent in distilled water, acids, bases, KCN, H2O2, the leucobase of methylene blue, sugar, alcohol, papaverine hydrochloride and quinine (the alkaloid, not its salt), when Amoebae are immersed in solutions of them in the concentrations mentioned. It does occur for varying lengths of time in certain concentrations of all the neutral salts used, and in an acid or base when a neutral salt is added. Salts which because of hydrolysis give an acid or basis reaction impede locomotion, depending on the degree of hydrolysis and the concentration. 2. The surface of Amoeba in various solutions. It is very adhesive in acids of a concentration of N/I to N/40,000, in salts which because of hydrolysis give an acid reaction, and in the leucobase of methylene blue. It is sufficiently adhesive in neutral salts in suitable concentrations to permit attachment to the substratum. Without such attachment, locomotion is impossible, therefore one of the conditions for locomotion is an adhesive surface, but the latter condition alone is no indication that locomotion will take place. The surface of Amoeba is not adhesive in sodium or potassium hydroxide, or in salts which because of hydrolysis give a basic reaction, and it is only indifferently adhesive in H2O2 and in the non-electrolytes and alkaloids used. It contracts in acids and considerably more in bases, although the surface is dentate in acids and smooth in bases, but undergoes no significant change in certain concentrations of neutral salts. The ectoplasmic surface ruptures readily in strong solutions of bases and salts. The time required varies with the concentration. The ammonium salts used induce intermittent ejections of the endoplasmic contents, hence there is not a single rupture following which all the endoplasm is extruded, such as happens after a short or long period of immersion depending on the concentration in sodium or potassium hydroxide, or the salts used. The ectoplasmic surface is seen as a distinct morphological unit after it has ruptured in the reagents mentioned. In sodium or potassium hydroxide, it is preserved for varying lengths of time depending on the concentration, dissolving rapidly in strong solutions and more slowly in weak solutions. In salts, especially the neutral salts, it is preserved for several days, and is seen as a sort of vesicle containing the nucleus, some food-vacuoles, and a few crystalline particles attached to its inner surface. 3. The endoplasm of Amoeba in the solutions used. In acids and in the leucobase of methylene blue, it undergoes violent and unco-ordinated streaming. The streaming is conditioned in its violence and inco-ordination by the concentration of the acids, and by the degree of oxidation of the leucobase. It is more violent the stronger the acid and the less oxidation that has occurred in the leucobase at the time of immersion. Distilled water saturated with CO2 and HCN in fairly dilute solutions, as well as strong solutions, constitute media in which this does not occur. Streaming is almost immediately stopped in CO2 and markedly impeded in HCN. In sodium or potassium hydroxide, KCN, H2O2, non-electrolytes and alkaloids, streaming is very slow even in very dilute solutions and stopped altogether in strong solutions. The inclusions of the endoplasm dissolve when Amoeba is immersed for some time in KCN and HCN, in alcohol and certain alkaloids in the concentrations mentioned, and in the leucobase of methylene blue. The food-vacuoles are distended in the solutions used of HCN, alcohol, ammonium salts, NH4OH, the leucobase of methylene blue and somewhat in LiCl, but are ejected only in NH4OH and ammonium salts, and with considerable endoplasm in many instances. The crystalline inclusions, which are ordinarily enclosed within a pellicle, i.e. each inclusion or crystal within a separate pellicle, come together in varying numbers within a common vesicle in certain solutions. There are usually two, three, or more such vesicles in a given specimen, each of which contains a dozen or more of such crystals. This sort of crystal aggregation occurs in KOH, N/4000 ; NH4OH, N/2000; NaHCO3, N/400 ; LiSO4, N/300, and a mixture of potassium nitrate, sulphate, and acetate, N/300. They may occur in other concentrations, but the above concentrations were the ones used when such aggregation was observed. 4. Time of inactivation or death of Amoeba in the various solutions. The time varies depending on whether or not the Amoebae were washed in distilled water (being shorter in the latter instance) as well as on the concentration. The following is for Amoebae that were washed in distilled water before immersion in the various solutions : (a) Acids, N/100 and N/1000, 7 minutes to 1 hour. (b) Sodium and potassium hydroxide, N/100 and N/200, 20 seconds to 1 minute; N/500 and N/1000, 2 to 3 hours ; N/2000, 20 or more hours ; N/4000, 48 or more hours, (c) KCN, molecular, made neutral to phenolphthalein by the addition of HCN, 12 minutes ; KCN without the addition of HCN, 2 minutes ; KCN, N/100 (made neutral as above), 2 or more hours ; KCN, N/100, without HCN, 1 hour to 1½ hours, (d) Salts: NH4Cl, N/300, 32 hours ; NaCl, N/300, 266 hours; NaCl, N/100, 124 hours ; a mixture of equal parts of KCl, N/500 with KOH, N/4000, 64 hours ; a mixture of equal parts of KCl, N/500 with HCl, N/6000, 81 hours ; CaCl2, N/300, 211 hours ; NaCl and CaCl2 mixed in equal parts, N/300 each, 266 hours ; NaCl and CaCl2, N/100, mixed in equal parts, 124 hours ; LiCl, N/300, 116 hours ; NaCl, KCl, and NH4Cl, N/500, mixed in equal parts of each, 125 hours ; BaCl2, SrCl2, and CaCl2, N/500, mixed in equal parts of...

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