Chylomicron Dissolution

Abstract

Intraven. injns. of 1-2.5 U./kg. heparin significantly cleared an alimentary lipemia in humans and dogs. 5-25 U./kg. or more of heparin increased clotting time, metachromatic and antithrombin activity of blood extracts, thrombin-inactivating power of the serum, and the aggregation tendency of red cells, platelets and the remaining chylomicra. Injns. of heparin into the arterial side of the circulation in lipemic dogs promptly cleared the venous blood from the leg and lungs. Clearing did not occur in the blood stream through the brain until after recirculation and mixing of blood from different parts of the body. Small doses of heparin only temporarily cleared the lipemia through a local circulation. Repeated injns. of heparin appeared to exhaust the mechanism so that clearing no longer occurred. Heparin may cause the activation, formation, or release of a chylolytic sub-stance in the legs and the lungs but not in the brain.