[Induced autolysis as an important mechanism of the initial stages of ordinary digestion].

The critical review of generally accepted ideas on initial stages of digestion in higher animals is presented. A brief account is given of the hypothesis of the induced autolysis as an important mechanism of food assimilation. According to this hypothesis digestive juices (in addition to their enzyme activities) contain factors capable to induce the autolysis of food structures. An attempt was made to estimate the value of gastric secretions and induced autolysis in the splitting of complex biological food structures. The splitting of native structures of food object was found to be more effective and complete than the splitting of the same structures subjected to heat denaturation. The results obtained suggest that the initial stages of digestion should be considered as a complex process provided both with the enzymes of gastric juice and with the enzymes of food itself, with lysosomal enzymes in particular.