Abstract
Leucemic blood was transferred into healthy animals and the fate of the immature leucocytes was followed in the circulating blood and in the blood forming organs of the recipient. Such a study might reveal whether leucemia is the result of multiplication of the transfused immature leucocytes in a susceptible host. In addition, the fate of the transmissible agent in the blood of the recipient was studied because it was assumed that if leucosis were secondary to infection, the infective agent might be recovered from fowls that exhibited no leucemic blood changes.
The fate of transfused leucemic cells. Six young chickens were transfused with 20 to 35 cc. of the blood of fowls with severe myeloid leucemia, after 13 to 35 cc. of blood had been removed from the circulation of each recipient. Following transfusion, there was an immediate increase of the leucocyte count. Leucocyte counts of the blood of donors and recipients, mixed in vitro in proportions estimated to be those in the recipients, gave values from 2 to 3 times as high as those found in the recipients 30 minutes and 1 hour after transfusion. Figures for red cells and hemoglobin in the mixtures, on the other hand, agreed roughly with the figures found in the transfused animal. This observation indicated that leucocytes had been removed from the peripheral circulation. There was a slight further fall in the leucocyte counts during periods varying from 1 to 2 days, which was followed by a slight rise during a period of about one day. Subsequently the leucocyte count of 4 of the 6 transfused chickens fell to normal within a few days with a complete disappearance of the immature cells. Three of these 4 birds showed no further changes, but one developed erythro-leucosis 47 days after the transfusion.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.