CRITERIA OF THE AGE OF LYMPHOCYTES IN THE PERIPHERAL BLOOD

The study of blood from rabbits with normal and with hyperactive lymphatic tissue reveals, in the latter, a greater percentage of lymphocytes with heavily basophilic cytoplasm and numerous mitochondria. This indicates that cytoplasmic basophilia and mitochondrial content can serve as criteria of the degree of maturity of the lymphocyte, these characters having the same significance in this relation as obtains with other blood cells. Basophilia is the more evident and reliable indicator of youth of the cells. The classification of lymphocytes into three groups, according to degree of basophilia, has yielded figures which show the proportions of the three to be relatively stable in blood from normal adult human beings and rabbits. Size is not strictly a function of age in lymphocytes. Moreover, there is no correspondence in the size of lymphocytes in supravital films and in fixed specimens obtained by the "cover glass" method. There is a change of size during fixation. Although lymphocytes of intermediate and large size may be of any age, in supravital preparations the majority are young cells, whereas in fixed films the reverse obtains. The small lymphocyte may be of any age in specimens examined by either technique. The total number of lymphocytes circulating at any given time is not necessarily an index to lymphoid activity.