We investigated the ultrastructural characteristics and the granule major basic protein (MBP) content of hypodense eosinophils from patients with the hypereosinophilic syndrome who had at least 90% hypodense eosinophils in their peripheral blood and compared these cells to normodense eosinophils from normal persons. The hypodense cells (density < 1.082) contained significantly less MBP than normodense (density > 1.082) eosinophils (P < .001) as measured by radioimmunoassay (RIA). Electron microscopic examination demonstrated a mean of 25.0 ± 4.4 (X̄ ± 1 SD) granules per hypodense cell, compared to 30.6 ± 8.4 granules per cell in the normodense group (P < .1). The most striking difference between the hypodense and normodense eosinophils was the small individual granule size (X̄ = .14 ± .05 v .26 ± .05 micron2, respectively, P < .001), and the smaller total granule area (3.2 ± 1.8 vs 7.7 ± 3.1 μm2, respectively, P < .001). Because the cytoplasmic areas were similar in the two groups, the mean percent area of cytoplasm occupied by granules was significantly lower in the hypodense group (P < .001). The finding of consistently smaller granules in the presence of equal or fewer granules per cell in the hypodense eosinophils may explain the lower MBP content and thus provide a morphological basis for the low density of eosinophils in patients with the hypereosinophilic syndrome.
CITATION STYLE
Peters, M. S., Gleich, G. J., Dunnette, S. L., & Fukuda, T. (1988). Ultrastructural study of eosinophils from patients with the hypereosinophilic syndrome: A morphological basis of hypodense eosinophils. Blood, 71(3), 780–785. https://doi.org/10.1182/blood.v71.3.780.780
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