[Clinical performance of the basophil degranulation test. Correlation with other diagnostic technics in allergy (II)]. / Rentabilidad clínica del test de degranulación de basófilos. Correlación con otras técnicas diagnósticas en alergia (II).

Although the clinical history is the fundamental method for the diagnosis of reaginic diseases, the use of complementary techniques that gears on the detection of the humoral and cellular effector cells intervening in such affectation is necessary. Thus, we can detect the existence of specific IgE. It can be joined to the basophil membrane by means of techniques "in vivo" as in cutaneous tests, or by means of techniques "in vitro" through cellular techniques in which we apply a biochemical pattern (release of histamine) or a morphological one (HBDT). It can also be free in serum by means of the P-K test or "in vitro" by means of techniques of double antibody. We can also determine, by this last technique, the quantity of the total IgE in serum. In the present work, we review the human basophil degranulation test (HBDT) and its correlation with the prick test, the peripheral blood eosinophilia, the total serum IgE quantification by enzymatic technique and the specific IgE detection by isotope method. In our technique the test was considered positive when the degranulation index with known allergen concentration was greater than 30% for pollens and greater than 25% for D. pteronyssinus with a p less than 0.001. As reported in a previous work, we explain that the normal limits are slightly inferior to those used by some other authors, because in our series, the degranulation average of healthy controls is inferior to that reported by those authors which makes us consider the convenience that the normal limits of degranulation index should be established in a particular way by each technique and allergen.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

[Human basophil degranulation test. Results of a modified technic (I)]. / Test de degranulación de basófilos humanos. Variantes técnicas aportadas (I).

The degranulation of human basophils towards antigenic substances, to which they must be previously sensitized as a result of the antigen-antibody union at the membrane level, is a phenomenon that has an important application complementing diagnosis of diseases mediated by the Gell and Coombs classification of Type I Hypersensitivity, on which the principle of Human Basophils Degranulation Test (HBDT) was based. An essential requirement is to be able to collect an adequate quantity of basophils, as well as the visualization by means of a technique of convenient stain. In this work, we show a modified HBDT technique for basophil granulocytes staining. A total of 33 HBDT was carried out on patients sensitive to grass pollen and/or Olea europea pollen and/or D. pteronyssinus, and as controls, HBDT was done on healthy individuals with negative clinical history. Basophil enrichemnt from the circulating blood sample was done by means of centrifugation in Percoll density gradients of 1072, 1076, 1080 and 1082, and we obtained a higher number of basophils with a density of 1080 at 400 Xg for 30 minutes. The cellular bottom was resuspended in 600 microliters of PBS. We employed lyophilized antigenic extracts from grass pollen, Olea europea and D. pteronyssinus, employing weight/volume concentration of 10(-4), 10(-5), 10(-6) and 10(-7). The optimum dilutions were 10(-5) for grass pollen and D. pteronyssinus.