Effects of age, sex and multiple endocrine neoplasia type-II on silver stained nucleolar organizer regions.

Silver stained nucleolar organizer regions (AgNORs) were studied in phytohemagglutinin (PHA)-stimulated lymphocytes from 55 Caucasian control individuals (34 females with average age of 24 years and age range 19 weeks gestation to 87 years; 21 males with average age of 31 years and age range 29 weeks gestation to 72 years) and 13 individuals (7 females, 6 males; average age 38.8 years with age range 25-58 years) with multiple endocrine neoplasia-type II (MEN-II), an autosomal dominant malignancy with increased chromosome breakage. For the first time, AgNORs were examined in lymphocytes from normal fetuses and patients with MEN-II in order to determine the effects of age, sex or malignancy on the number of AgNORs. No significant difference in the average number of AgNORs were found in fetal cells (8.2 +/- S.D. 0.7/cell) when compared with cells from older individuals including those over 65 years of age (8.0 +/- S.D. 0.8/cell). There was a statistically significant negative correlation (P less than 0.05) between the modal number of AgNORs on G but not D chromosomes in both males and females. A negative correlation was also found between the mean number of AgNORs and age but was not statistically significant. The average number of AgNORs in the MEN-II individuals was 8.5 +/- S.D. 0.7/cell, which was not significantly different than 8.2 +/- S.D. 0.7/cell observed in age-matched control subjects.