STAINING OF RETICULOCYTES BY BRILLIANT CRESYL BLUE

Abstract

In recent years it has become more and more certain that the increase in the circulation of young red blood cells, which contain reticular substance when supravitally stained, is indicative of increased erythropoiesis. Clinical proof of this has been obtained by innumerable examples of the production of reticulocyte crises in response to various therapeutic procedures, and notably in cases of pernicious anemia following the institution of liver therapy, first described by Minot and Murphy.¹As the importance of these young cells becomes more evident, the nature and behavior of the reticular or basophilic substance contained within them are arousing an increasing amount of interest. This basophilic substance in erythrocytes, closely related to the maturation of these cells, may well be a type of substance present in many other cells, and indeed may prove to be important in the elucidation of many clinical problems, notably those concerned with neoplastic diseases.