Nucleoli of blood monocytes in malignant lymphoma. A morphometric study.

Morphometric methods were used to study the nucleolar ultrastructure of blood monocytes in 23 patients with Hodgkin's disease, 12 patients with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, and 20 normal subjects. Nucleolar volume (Vn), surface area (Sn), volume fraction within the nucleus (VVn), surface-to-volume ratio, and number of nucleolar profiles per section were measured. The results were examined with the use of multivariate and univariate analyses of variance, and significant differences between the patient and normal groups were found. Compared with the normals, values for Vn, Sn, VVn and number of profiles per section were 16-20% smaller in the Hodgkin's monocytes and 19-32% smaller in those of the patients with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. The changes in nucleolar ultrastructure may be related to the known mononuclear phagocyte dysfunction in patients with lymphoma.