Stability of E-rosettes in aged humans: effect of cytochalasin B and colchicine.

A greater stability of E-rosettes and a reduced rate of capping of sheep erythrocytes are observed in elderly people. The lack of qualitative changes in the sensitivity of these processes to colchicine and cytochalasin B suggests that the function of the microfilaments and the microtubules is not primarily affected by ageing. The density and the affinity of the lymphocytes for sheep erythrocytes do not decrease in aged subjects. So the defective rearrangement of the E-receptors cannot be accounted for by some receptor alteration but points to a possible hindrance of their cross-linking in the membrane or their submembrane connection to the cytoskeleton.