THE MONOCYTE IN ACTIVE TUBERCULOSIS

Abstract

In using the term monocyte to designate the white blood cell commonly known as the transitional or large mononuclear cell, we are following the nomenclature and classification of Sabin, Cunningham and Doan.¹These investigators stated that two types of mononuclear cells, namely, the monocyte and the clasmatocyte, can be differentiated by means of the "supravital" staining technic. They believed that these cells have a different anatomic origin, but, under certain circumstances, the common function of phagocytosis. The monocyte arises from a primitive stem cell, which in turn comes from the reticular cells in the bone marrow, spleen and lymph glands. This primitive cell is also the parent stem from which the leukocytic and lymphatic series of cells are derived. The clasmatocyte arises from the cells which come from the endothelium, lining the sinuses of the lymph nodes, the sinusoids of the liver lobules and the capillaries of bone marrow,