Abstract
In an attempt to keep tissue cultures of certain blood cells under constant observation, work was completely blocked by the exceedingly rapid and extreme degeneration of the cells. In this rapid degeneration all of the various types of leucocytes showed degenerative changes rather similar in character, which differed, however, in certain particulars, for each individual type of cell. Of the changes shown by the various types of leucocytes, those shown by the polymorphonuclear neutrophil were the most striking. The neutrophils rapidly became very amoeboid, and at the same time their cytoplasm became more fluid, as was shown by the exaggerated brownian movement of the cytoplasmic granules. Soon cellular movement ceased; the cells rounded and became spherical. The polymorphic lobulated nuclei became edematous, rounded, but after a short while began to shrink and became reduced in size, although they still maintained their spherical or slightly ellipsoidal shape. The cells became swollen and edematous, and increased tremendously in size; in several instances the diameter of the cell reached three times that of the cell when it had first become rounded. During the development of this edema a number of minute oil droplets, giving a positive Sudan III reaction, became visible in the cytoplasm. From this stage on, two terminations to the process have been observed: (1) the cytoplasm gradually coagulated around the nucleus, leaving the cell membrane as a shell which slowly autolyzed; (2) the edema became so great as to rupture the cell membrane. At the moment of rupture the dancing granules and oil droplets of the cytoplasm almost instantly coagulated, evidently from contact with the surrounding medium.
Without here going into details of the degenerative changes of the other types of leucocytes, it may be stated that they too followed a more or less similar, though less spectacular course of hydropsical degeneration.
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