Number of Thrombocytes and Leucocytes in Blood of Adrenalectomized Rats

Abstract

Peripheral blood was obtained from each of a group of IS normal rats for determining the total number of thrombocytes. Each blood sample was collected in a Trenner automatic red cell pipette and diluted one part to 200 with Ringer's solution (Casey and Helmer) and a small amount of cresyl blue added. After being shaken for 5 minutes in an automatic shaker, the platelets in 240 small squares on both sides of a double chambered Neubauer hemocytometer were counted by 2 workers for each animal.

After the average normal platelet count was obtained, the rat was bilaterally adrenalectomized. Two days were allowed for recovery from the operation and on alternate days, thereafter, the numbers of platelets were enumerated until death occurred from adrenal insufficiency. The results obtained on the 13 rats of the group which died of adrenal insufficiency are recorded in Table I. They averaged 477,350 in the normal state and 840,270 just before death, an average increase of 76%.

The total number of white cells in the blood of 34 normal rats averaged 11,319 while just before death from adrenal insufficiency the leucocytes averaged 17,576 per cubic millimeter of blood. This leucocytosis is in agreement with the observations made by Zwemer and Lyons 1 and also by Corey and Britton 2 on adrenalectomized cats.

Differential white cell counts were made on a group of 19 rats before and after adrenalectomy. In the normal state the lymphocytes averaged 81.2%, two days after operation 84.7% and just before death from adrenal insufficiency 88.4%. With the increase in lymphocytes there was a concomitant decrease in the neutrophils. The numbers of the other types of white blood cells seemed unchanged.