SEX DIFFERENTIATION BY LEUKOCYTE MORPHOLOGY

Abstract

Davidson and Smith''s finding of sex differences in the nuclei of polymorphonuclear leukocytes was used in a study of endocrinopathies and dysgenetic states. In 46 normal control subjects, the findings as originally stated are entirely confirmed. In 87 abnormal patients, sex was diag-nosable from the blood smear in all but 8 cases, in each of which the blood smear indicated the opposite of the sex by which the patient lived. In 15 subjects, however, it was necessary to modify the criteria. The incidence of "drumsticks" on the nuclei of neutrophils appears to be related to the physically abnormal conditions involving endocrine disorders, and should be further investigated. Gonadal dysgenesis (ovarian agenesis) is divisible into "male" and "female" types, according to the nuclear chrom-atin pattern. Clinically, however, the two groups of patients are indistinguishable. A patient with eunuchoidism living as a male showed the female leukocytic chromatin pattern. Findings in the blood smears from 3 infants of unknown sex are discussed.