In a prospective trial with 120 chronic alcoholics (July, 1978 to January, 1980) on admission the following haematological values significantly different from those of the normal population were found: elevated erythrocyte mean corpuscular volume (64%), increased mean corpuscular hemoglobin (32%), thrombocytopenia (48%), increased percentage of bone marrow sideroblasts (35%), decreased percentage of sideroblasts (37%), megaloblastic bone marrow changes (55%) including nuclear abnormalities (32%), and vacuolization in red cell (20%) and white cell (16%) precursors. These changes were independent of liver cirrhosis with hypersplenism (increased mean corpuscular volume in 52% of the patients who did not have liver cirrhosis, increased mean corpuscular volume in 76% of the patients who were cirrhotic but not suffering from major bleeding). Platelets returned to normal values within 6 days of discontinuation of alcohol ingestion. In respect to iron metabolism we found the following changes: decreased serum iron concentration (32%), increased iron concentration (42%), increased total iron binding capacity (54%), increased ferritin (41%), decreased transferrin (20%). In contrast to data from the Anglo-American literature, serum folate concentrations were mostly normal in our patients (87%). This may be due to different eating and drinking habits. The percentage of bone marrow sideroblasts was also lower in our patients than those described in the literature mentioned above. The changes in maturation are likely to be caused partially by a toxic effect of alcohol on nuclear metabolism of bone marrow cells.

The activities of acid phosphatases (AP) were measured in leukocytes from patients with chronic myelocytic leukemia (CML), macrophages, granulocytes, in the fractionated mononuclear cells of patients with CML and with hairy-cell-leukemia (HCL) and in the cells from patients with acute leukemia (AL). The lowest activities were found in lymphocytes of normal subjects and of patients with chronic lymphatic leukemia (CLL) and in thrombocytes. Isoenzyme (IsE) 1 was characteristic for thymocytes, IsE 2 for granulocytes, IsE 3 for pathologic blast-cells, lymphocytes and thrombocytes, IsE 4 for macrophages, IsE 5 with components a and b for the mononuclear fraction of patients with HCL. In addition IsE 5 was detected in lymphocytes, macrophages and CLL-cells. In 4 patients with HCL the relative percentage of IsE-5-fraction was slightly greater than the percentage of tartrate resistant cells. In two patients with questionable HCL well marked IsE-5-fractions were recognized but no tartrate resistant cells. In one patient with HCL a relatively high percentage of tartrate resistant hairy-cells and in comparison an inadaquate low IsE-5-fraction was found. These different relations were explained with the more sensitive method of gelelectrophoresis and different affinity of substrates to AP.

Platelets of normal persons were separated into five fractions by centrifugation in discontinuous Ficoll density gradients. Enzyme activities of lactic dehydrogenase, phosphoglycerate kinase, glyceraldehyde phosphate dehydrogenase, pyruvate kinase, glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase and content of protein were constantly higher in the heavy fraction IV compared with the light fraction I. With regard to the platelet volume, however, these differences were compensated almost completely.

Leucocytes of normal persons and patients with acute and chronic granulocytic leukemia, chronic lymphocytic leukemia, and non-Hodgkin lymphoma were separated into subfractions by centrifugation in discontinuous Ficoll density gradient. Osmotic resistance was examined in hypotonic NaCl solutions with decreasing concentration and by determining LDH activity in the supernatant. Suspensions of myelocytes, polymorphnuclear granulocytes, and lymphocytes of normal persons and patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia demonstrated the same osmotic resistance. Only myeloblasts were osmotically less fragile, and tumor cells of non-Hodgkin lymphoma more fragile.

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