Absorption from the peritoneal cavity

Abstract

FOR a considerable time I have been engaged in the study of the pathology of ascites produced in cats by narrowing of the inferior vena cava in the chest, the results of which have been published a t intervals (1903, -09, -16l).At the present point in the work it has become necessary to investigate the rate of absorption in ascitic cats as compared with the normal, but on looking up the subject I have found that the normal absorption of fluids and particles is by no means clearly established, more particularly with regard to the part played by the thoracic duct in draining the peritoneum.It is not only from the point of view of the absorption of normal body fluids and cells that the subject is of importance, but also from that of the absorption of bacteria and their products, and of other chemical substances, whether they are so-called immune products or altogether foreign to the animal body.This paper deals only with the mechanical and physical factors concerned in the process of absorption, and with the paths by which this is accomplished.I t has nothing whatever to do with tissue reaction and the vital factors which are called into play.An animal absorbs substances from its peritoneal cavity in two ways: (1) by its subperitoneal capillary blood vessels ; (2) by its lymphatic vessels.1. Subperitoneal Capillary Blood Vessels.--It was first clearly demonstrated by Starling and Tubby (1894 2) that salt solution coloured with a diffusible dye was directly absorbed into the blood from the peritoneal cavity, the urine being coloured within five minutes and the lymph in about half an hour.They found that the residue of the peritoneal fluid contained protein and concluded that the process at work 'was one of interchange between this fluid and the blood, each taking from the other that constituent which it did not possess.Leathes and Starling (1895 3, subsequently showed that the water was absorbed by osmosis and the sodium chloride by diffusion, and that, there was no active absorption by the cndothelial cells, since there was no difference in the process when the cells were injured by sodium fluoride or by scalding.