Laboratories of The Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research.
J Exp Med. 1931 Jul 31;54(2):271-94. doi: 10.1084/jem.54.2.271.
The study of blood from rabbits with normal and with hyperactive lymphatic tissue reveals, in the latter, a greater percentage of lymphocytes with heavily basophilic cytoplasm and numerous mitochondria. This indicates that cytoplasmic basophilia and mitochondrial content can serve as criteria of the degree of maturity of the lymphocyte, these characters having the same significance in this relation as obtains with other blood cells. Basophilia is the more evident and reliable indicator of youth of the cells. The classification of lymphocytes into three groups, according to degree of basophilia, has yielded figures which show the proportions of the three to be relatively stable in blood from normal adult human beings and rabbits. Size is not strictly a function of age in lymphocytes. Moreover, there is no correspondence in the size of lymphocytes in supravital films and in fixed specimens obtained by the "cover glass" method. There is a change of size during fixation. Although lymphocytes of intermediate and large size may be of any age, in supravital preparations the majority are young cells, whereas in fixed films the reverse obtains. The small lymphocyte may be of any age in specimens examined by either technique. The total number of lymphocytes circulating at any given time is not necessarily an index to lymphoid activity.
从正常和淋巴组织过度活跃的兔子血液中进行的研究表明，在后一种情况下，具有大量嗜碱性细胞质和许多线粒体的淋巴细胞的百分比更高。这表明细胞质嗜碱性和线粒体含量可以作为淋巴细胞成熟程度的标准，这些特征在与其他血细胞的关系中具有相同的意义。嗜碱性是细胞年轻程度的更明显和可靠的指标。根据嗜碱性程度将淋巴细胞分为三组，其结果表明，在正常成年人和兔子的血液中，这三组的比例相对稳定。大小并不是淋巴细胞年龄的严格函数。此外，活体片中的淋巴细胞大小与通过“盖玻片”法获得的固定标本中的大小并不对应。在固定过程中会发生大小变化。尽管中等大小和较大的淋巴细胞可能属于任何年龄段，但在活体片中，大多数是年轻细胞，而在固定片中则相反。通过这两种技术检查的标本中，小淋巴细胞可能属于任何年龄段。任何给定时间循环的淋巴细胞总数不一定是淋巴样活性的指标。
