The nature of leucocytosis produced by nucleinic acid : a preliminary experimental study / by Delano Ames and A. A. Huntley.

  • Delano Ames
Date:
1897
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Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The nature of leucocytosis produced by nucleinic acid : a preliminary experimental study / by Delano Ames and A. A. Huntley. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by UCL Library Services. The original may be consulted at UCL (University College London)

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    direction, which however bears strongly on the point in question, that we have reason to believe the leucocytosis following the administration of nuclein to be one in which there is an actual increase in the number of white corpuscles in the circulation. To what process this is due we are not able to state, though we are inclined to the view that there is proliferation within the cell-forming organs and probably in the circula- tion as well. Before detailing our experiments let us examine more closely the two chief arguments advanced in support of the other view of leucocytosis, that first mentioned. In examining a drop of blood, drawn, we will say from the finger of a person some hours, or a day or so, after an injection of nuclein, it is readily seen that the white corpuscles are present in increased numbers, and that the largest percentage increase is in the polymorphonuclear variety. This fact can not be dis- puted, and since, as Ehrlich23 has pointed out, the blood-cell-forming organs discharge into the circula- tion only the small mononuclear or young elements, it seems at first difficult to explain the presence of so many of the older mature cells. The question however resolves itself really into one concerning the length of the life-cycle of a leucocyte. How long may it take for a young element to pass through the various stages in its development and become matured? Is it not probable that the mistake has been made in examining the blood too long after the injection of nuclein, so that time enough has elapsed to allow the young elements formed as a result of the injection to mature? If this is the case the first argument advanced loses it weight and becomes in reality an argument in favor of the other view. In the course of all of our experiments we found that within so short a time as from five to ten min- utes after the injection of nuclein there was a notice- able increase in the number of leucocytes in the peripheral as well as in the central circulation, and,
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