Structural, cytochemical, immunocytochemical and ultrastructural characterization of blood granulocytes of the roadside hawk Buteo magnirostris (Gmelin, 1788) (Avian, Falconiform).

In the peripheral blood of the roadside hawk, Buteo magnirostris, the following types of granulocytic leucocytes were identified: heterophil, eosinophil and basophil. The heterophils presented acidophilic and spindle shaped granules, the eosinophils possess spherical eosinophilic granules and the basophils showed spherical and basophilic granules. The heterophils and eosinophils presented positive cytochemical reaction to glycogen and basic polyaminoacid, while the eosinophils presented sudanophilic granules, which were also positive for myeloperoxidase. The heterophils, alone, presented positivity for acid phosphatase in some granules and immunoreactivity to TGF-beta1 was observed only in the cytoplasm of the eosinophils. Electron microscopy demonstrated the heterophil granules as predominantly spindle shaped, being strongly electron-dense, while the eosinophils had numerous uniformly electron-dense spherical granules and the basophils presented three different types of granules identified according to their electron-density and the aspect of their matrix.

Development of basophils in Mongolian gerbils: formation of basophilic cell clusters in the bone marrow after Nippostrongylus brasiliensis infection.

Development of basophilic leukocytes was studied in the Mongolian gerbil, Meriones unguiculatus, after infection with the nematode Nippostrongylus brasiliensis. After infection, peripheral blood basophilia developed and peaked at 2 weeks. In bone marrow sections, numbers of alcian blue+/safranine- basophilic cells were increased. These cells did not bind berberine sulfate and were clearly distinguishable from the bone marrow-resident mast cells, safranine+ and berberine sulfate+. Alcian blue+/safranine- cells were identified by electron microscopy as basophilic myelocytes in various stages of maturation. In the early period of infection, these cells had round-to-oval granules with a homogenous electron-dense matrix, a well-developed Golgi apparatus and rough endoplasmic reticulum, and a nonsegmented nucleus. By enzyme cytochemical analysis, intense peroxidase activity was demonstrated in all of the specific granules as well as in the rough endoplasmic reticulum and Golgi apparatus. Two weeks after infection, the number of bone marrow basophilic cells further increased, forming distinct clusters or islands composed of up to 100 cells each. On electron micrographs, the basophilic cells in these clusters appeared to be late-stage basophilic myelocytes, ie, having an increased number of granules, a less-conspicuous Golgi apparatus and rough endoplasmic reticulum, a horseshoe-shaped-to-lobulated nucleus, and reduced peroxidase activity. Eosinophils and mast cells were rarely found in the basophilic cell clusters. Four weeks after infection, the clusters had disappeared. These results show that gerbil basophilic myelocytes tend to form cell clusters in the bone marrow during their active proliferation. The comparative paucity of other cell lineages in basophilic cell clusters suggests that basophilia is generated from differentiation/proliferation of precommitted basophil progenitors independently from cells of other lineages.

Infection of Nippostrongylus brasiliensis induces normal increase of basophils in mast cell-deficient Ws/Ws rats with a small deletion at the kinase domain of c-kit.

All basophils, mucosal-type mast cells (MMC) and connective tissue-type mast cells (CTMC) are derived from the multipotential hematopoietic stem cell. Mutations at the c-kit locus resulted in deficiency of MMC and CTMC in both mice and rats. To investigate the role of the c-kit receptor tyrosine kinase for production of basophils, we used white spotting/white spotting (Ws/Ws) mutant rats that have a small deletion at the tyrosine kinase domain of the c-kit gene. When Ws/Ws, nude athymic, and normal (+/+) rats were infected with Nippostrongylus brasiliensis (NB), the number of basophils increased greater than 50-fold in the peripheral blood of Ws/Ws and +/+ rats but did not increase in that of nude rats. Blood histamine concentration increased significantly in Ws/Ws and +/+ rats but did not increase in nude rats. Immature basophils increased greater than 10-fold in the bone marrow of Ws/Ws and +/+ rats but did not increase in that of nude rats. Mature and immature basophils that developed after the NB infection were identified by electron microscopy. The present result confirms that T-cell-derived cytokines are indispensable for the augmented production of basophils and suggests that stimulation via the c-kit receptor may not be necessary for the augmented production.

[Hypoglycemia in the newborn infant subsequent to hyperplasia of beta cells of the pancreas]. / Hipoglicemia en el recién nacido consecutiva a hiperplasia de células beta del páncreas

A case of hypoglycemia of difficult control and resistant to treatment due to hypersinsulinism as a result of hypertrophy of beta celis of the pancreas in the newborn perior is analyzed. Based on this case, hypoglycemia of the newborn is discussed, analyzed etiology, pathogenesis, symptomatology, diagnosis and treatment. Emphasis is place on the lack of clear symptoms and signs at this age, on the differential diagnosis, on the entities with which it can be associated or confused, and on the need to make an early diagnosis in order to prevent brain damage.