ESTRONE CLEARANCE TEST IN INFECTIOUS HEPATITIS*

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Abstract
ZONDEK (11) showed in 1934 that the living organism inactivates estrone rapidly. Of an injected dose of estrone, only 5 per cent can be recovered from the body three hours after the injection. Liver in vitro inactivates estrone to an extent of 95 per cent, and spleen to an extent of 20 per cent, whereas the other organs in vitro have no effect on estrone. Estrone is also inactivated by poikilothermal animals, by hyacinth root (10), potato juice, red beet, bran, and certain bacteria (12,13). Cell-free extracts of liver inactivate estrone, but lose this activity on heating to 70° (11). It may be concluded, therefore, that the inactivation of estrone is enzymatic in nature. The enzyme which is responsible for this inactivation has been called “estrinase.” Zondek and collaborators (13, 14) proved that estrinase from plants (potato juice) belongs to the phenol-oxidase group, being distinct from laccase, but related to tyrosinase.