Circulating lymphocyte response during acute infection - abstract
West Indian med. j
; 22(4): 184, Dec. 1973.
Article
in En
| MedCarib
| ID: med-6224
Responsible library:
JM3.1
Localization: JM3.1; R18.W4
ABSTRACT
The circulating lymphocytes in peripheral blood comprise a group of cells with different origins, life span, fine structure, and proliferative capacity. Under normal circumstances, these lymphocytes do not divide and peripheral blood from healthy individuals contains only about 0.1 percent of lymphocytes in DNA synthesis. This proportion is much increased in infectious mononucleosis, several viral, bacterial and rickettsial diseases and is even greater in acute and chronic myeloid leukaemia and other reticuloses. This study was undertaken to assess the DNA-synthesising ability of lymphocytes in peripheral blood of patients with infectious diseases and to ascertain if the proliferative response was related to the nature of the infecting agent. The agents studied included leptospira, proteus, pneumococcus, staphylococcus, streptococcus, tetanus, klebsiella and some viruses. DNA synthesis was assessed by the ability of the cells to incorporate tritiated thymidine (H3T) or I125 deoxyuridine (I125DU) into DNA, following a one-hour pulse in vitro I125 DU uptake was measured by scintillation counting which provided an index of the per cent isotope incorporation in a given population of cells. By H3T autoradiography, specific cell types undergoing DNA synthesis were identified and quantitated by the Labelling Index (number of cells labelled/total cells counted). A total of 84 patients and 16 normal control subjects were studied. The results by both method indicated a definite increase in percentage of DNA-Synthesising cells in all infected patients, the greatest response being in leptospira, proteus and pneumococcus infections. Response was low in klebsiella infections and in sickle cell anaemia patients with infected leg ulcers. The labelling indices showed a mean of 3.01 + 019 percent and 0.04ñ0.09 percent in leptospirosis and sickle cell anaemia respectively, as compared with a 0.3 percentñ0.00 percent in normals. These studies demonstrated that lymphoid elements stimulated in vivo initiate a phase of proliferation in what is apparently an immunologic reaction mounted against the foreign infectious agents. This proliferative response may provide a means of increasing the numbers of antigenically-activated cells or may function in a reparative way. The measurement of DNA-synthesising cells represents a sensitive tool in the investigation of inflammatory and immunoproliferative disorders (AU)
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Collection:
01-internacional
Database:
MedCarib
Main subject:
Lymphocytes
/
Communicable Diseases
Limits:
Humans
Language:
En
Year:
1973
Type:
Article
/
Congress and conference