FACTORS AFFECTING THE IN VITRO CYTOLYSIS OF WHITE BLOOD CELLS BY TUBERCULIN

Abstract

It has long been suspected that white blood cells are concerned in tuberculin reactivity. One method of testing this possibility is by an in vitro procedure designed to demonstrate cytolysis by tuberculin of leukocytes of proper subjects. Samples of heparinized blood are mixed with PPD or OT and with normal saline in fixed and comparable amts. White cell counts are done immediately and after one hour of incubation at 37[degree]C. Runs of this routine on patients with active tuberculosis resulted in partial cytolysis of their white cells. The. leukocytes of "normal" tuberculin positive persons and of those with chronic tuberculosis were unaffected by tuberculin. The degree of cytolysis, where it resulted, bore no relation to the degree or intensity of tuberculin reactivity.