Cytochemical Findings in Human Nonneoplastic Blood and Tonsillar B and T Lymphocytes

Abstract

Pangalis, Gerassimos A., Waldman, Stephen R., and Rappaport, Henry: Cytochemical findings in human nonneoplastic blood and tonsillar B and T lymphocytes. Am J Clin Pathol 69: 314–318, 1978. The cytochemical profiles of B and T lymphocytes from the bloods of eight normal donors and the tonsils of three normal individuals were studied. An intense and localized α-naphthyl acetate esterase (α-NAE) activity was found in the majority of blood and tonsillar T lymphocytes, in contrast to the very low α-NAE activity observed in the blood and tonsillar B lymphocytes. A very low percentage of tonsillar B lymphocytes had β-glucuronidase (βG) activity, while relatively normal βG activity was observed in the tonsillar T lymphocytes and the blood B and T lymphocytes. Acid phosphatase (AcP) activities were found to be similar in both B and T lymphocytes from blood and tonsils. These findings suggest that the α-NAE reaction may be useful as a cytochemical marker for distinguishing B from T lymphocytic proliferations. They also revealed that there is no appreciable difference in AcP and βG activity between B and T lymphocytes obtained from the blood of normal donors.