[The ultrastructure of bovine lymphocytes in chronic lymphocytic leucosis].

The morphology of blood lymphocytes as obtained from cows suffering from chronic lymphocytic leucosis (CLL) and from healthy control animals was studied with the electron microscope. In the leukemic lymphocytes there was a significantly higher occurrence of the so-called nuclear pockets (13.8 per cent in the healthy ones). Marking the surface of the lymphocytes with Rutherium Red permitted to discern between two distinct populations of lymphocytes in peripheral blood. By using this method, B-lymphocyte were shown to prevail in CLL, accounting for 89.7 per cent of the total lymphocyte count.