Autotransfusion of ³H-Cytidine-Labelled Blood Lymphocytes in Patients with Hodgkin’s Disease and Non-Hodgkin Patients

Abstract

Autotransfusion of ³H-cytidine-labelled blood lymphocytes followed by autoradiographic evaluation as studied in 11 patients with Hodgkin’s disease and 3 other patients seems to be an appropriate method to estimate migration kinetics and pool sizes of lymphocytes. However, it is complicated by two major pitfalls: (1) The free (extracellular) activity of ³H-cytidine transfused along with the cell-bound label is sufficient to cause DNA labelling of newly produced lymphocytes in the body. (2) The soluble intracellular pool of ³H-labelled compounds causes an increase of labelling intensity of lymphocyte RNA in the first hours after cell transfusion. Methods to correct for these sources of error are described.

Mathematical Modeling Reveals Kinetics of Lymphocyte Recirculation in the Whole Organism

“…These data in combination with our mathematical model suggest that migration of lymphocytes via lung and liver vasculature in normal, noninflammatory conditions is very rapid. The combined rapid exit of TDLs from the blood into vasculature and rapid return back to the blood results in a relatively long average residence time of TDLs in the blood as has been observed in this and many other studies [25], [40], [65], [80]–[83]. Thus, our modeling reveals a highly dynamic nature of recirculation of thoracic duct lymphocytes between blood, lung capillaries, and liver sinusoids in rats.…”

The Predominant Role of the Spleen in Lymphocyte Recirculation

“…By different methods the mean transit time of small lymphocytes through the blood compartment was determined to be about 30 min: in the rat (Ford & Gowans, 1969); in the calf (Cronkite et al, 1964); and in humans (Hersey, 1971 ;Schick et al, 1975). About 80% of the small lymphocytes of the blood recirculate (Ford & Gowans, 1969;Schick et al, 1975) and, together with the 30 min transit time, this means that the total blood lymphocyte pool must be exchanged 38 times per day. Assuming a total of 10 x lo9 blood lymphocytes in man, this would result in 380 x lo9 lymphocytes per day.…”

“…The reciiculation of small lymphocytes from the blood through the lymph nodes and back to the blood through the thoracic duct is well established (Gowans &Knight, 1964). However, the daily output of small lymphocytes from the thoracic duct is totally insufficient to account for the mean transit time of small lymphocytes through the blood compartment which is about 30 min in the rat (Ford & Gowans, 1969), calf (Cronkite et al, 1964) and human (Hersey, 1971;Schick et al, 1975). This transit time means that all the recirculating small lymphocytes of the blood have to be exchanged about 50 times per day.…”

The Simulation of Density‐Dependent Effects in the Recirculation of T Lymphocytes

“…These changes, however, in contrast with the adhesive changes discussed above, have little effect on the temp of recirculation of T cells through the lymphoid tissue. This is because the entry of T cells from the blood into lymph nodes occurs much more rapidly (15-30 min [1,3,[15][16][17][18]) than the many hours that characterize the migration of T cells through lymph nodes [1][2][3].…”