Electronmicroscopical and immunoelectronmicroscopical examination of the lymphocytes of young and old people after influenza vaccination.

Authors examined the lymphocytes of young and old individuals before, 6 days and 6 weeks after influenza vaccination. Vaccination was carried out with killed Influenza B/Hong-Kong virus. Electronmicroscopic structure of the lymphocytes and membrane bound surface IgG and IgM were studied. Membrane bound surface IgG and IgM were seen on the small lymphocytes and on the membrane of the medium-sized lymphocytes in young and aged individuals before and after vaccination. In both age groups intracytoplasmic tubuloreticular structures were seen in the lymphocytes. These findings were not age dependent alterations. Age dependent changes could be detected on the mitochondria of the lymphoid cells. The mitochondrial crysts in aged individuals disappeared and were replaced by myelin-like forms or by faint density substance. The mitochondrial changes were present before vaccination and after vaccination in non labelled, presumably T lymphocytes. The injury of the mitochondrium can influence the function and the proliferative capacity of the cells.