DEPOLYMERIZATION OF NUCLEIC ACID IN ACUTE DISSEMINATED LUPUS ERYTHEMATOSUS

Abstract

THE PURPOSE of this presentation is to refer to a previously noted structural alteration that has been observed in lupus erythematosus and to emphasize its significance, which has become evident only after cytochemical analysis. In 1932 Gross¹ reported the presence of "clumps and packets of hematoxylin staining bodies" in the cardiac lesions (fig. 1) of Libman-Sacks disease, later identified with acute lupus erythematosus. He expressed the conclusion that these masses originated in nuclear material and that they were pathognomonic. In 1940, Ginzler and Fox² found similar masses in necrotic lymph nodes in this disease (fig. 2). They also described basophilic particles in the glomerular loops of the kidney, which observation was confirmed in 1941 by Klemperer, Pollack and Baehr.³ In the past two years my associates and I have observed 4 cases of acute lupus erythematosus in which the same hematoxylin-staining masses were found in