Vacuum Infiltration

Vacuum Infiltration

 

a method of studying the action of enzymes in a living plant.

Vacuum infiltration involves injecting solutions of different substances into the leaves. The part of the plant under study is immersed in a solution and the air above it is completely exhausted. As a result, air escapes from the spaces between the cells; after this the solution enters the interstices of the cells under the pressure of the newly released air. This method was used to determine the rate and direction of enzymatic reactions in living tissues. The correlation between the synthesis and breakdown of substances in cells was shown to be a distinguishing characteristic of the species and variety of plant.

REFERENCES

Kursanov, A. L. “Primenenie metoda vakuum-infil’tratsii dlia kolichestvennogo opredeleniia sinteziruiushchego i gidroli-ziruiushchego deistviia invertazy v zhivykh rastitel’nykh tkaniakh.” Biokhimiia, 1936, vol. 1, issue 3.
Kursanov, A. L. Obratimoe deistvie fermentov v zhivoi rastitel’noikletke. Moscow, 1940.