Ultrastructural morphometry of blastogenesis I: transformation of small lymphocytes stimulated in vivo with dinitrochlorobenzene.

Changes in the volumes and surfaces of subcellular compartments of unstimulated small lymphocytes and immunoblasts in mouse axillary lymph nodes have been established using stereological techniques. Blast transformation was induced in vivo with dinitrochlorobenzene (DNCB). Cell samples were obtained by random sampling regimes applied at light and electron microscopic levels. From electron micrographs the volume densities of euchromatin, heterochromatin, nucleoli, mitochondria, Golgi apparatus and rough endoplasmic reticulum were determined. Cell surface/volume ratios were also computed. By estimating mean nuclear volumes using light microscopy, it was possible to calculate absolute compartmental volumes and to evaluate the plasma membrane surface areas of average cells. Transformation in this model was characterized by a considerable cellular hypertrophy and a substantial increase in plasmalemma surface. Hypertrophy was the consequence of increases in the volumes of all measured intracellular compartments, notably euchromatin and "residual cytoplasm" (including ground cytoplasm and free ribosomes). These changes are discussed in the context of the altered metabolic status of cells.