Blood, 1955, Vol. 10, No. 2, pp. 145-153.
© 1955 American Society of Hematology, Inc.
Histochemical and Quantitative Studies of the In Vitro
Dehydrogenase Activity of Spleen in Hypersplenism
MAURICE M. BLACK 1,
JOSEPH A. PRESTON 1,
FRANCIS D. SPEER 1, and
PHYLLIS BRENOWITZ 1
1 Department of Pathology and Clinical Pathology of the New York Medical
College, Flower and Fifth Avenue Hopitals, New York, N. Y.
Tetrazolium chloride was used to visualize the in vitro dehydrogenase activity
of splenic tissues from cases with and without hypersplenism. In addition, quantitative measurements of such activity were made in the presence and absence
of fluoride, malonate and azide. The data indicate that spleen slices from cases
of hypersplenism differed from the controls and were characterized by (a) increased endogenous dehydrogenase activity of the lymphocytes, particularly
around the follicles, (b) a decreased azide stimulation in those cases having an
initial thrombocytopenia which responded to splenectomy, and (c) a decreased
fluoride stimulation in those cases having an initial leukopenia which responded
to splenectomy.
Routine histological studies confirmed other reports that a constant structural
feature of the spleen in hypersplenism is a perifollicular lymphocytic rimming.
Submitted on June 9, 1954
Accepted on August 14, 1954
