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Sequestration of Heat-injured Erythrocytes in Perfused Spleens of Acute Myelogenous Leukemic Rats as a Measure of Reticuloendothelial System Function¹

Department of Anatomy, Downstate Medical Center, State University of New York, New York, New York 11203 [B. S. D.]; and the Department of Biological Sciences, Hunter College, City University of New York, New York, New York 10021 [E. S. H. and E. E. H.]

This study was undertaken to determine whether splenic reticuloendothelial system function is altered in the spleens of rats with acute myelogenous leukemia. For this purpose, the isolated rat spleen perfusion technique was used to assess the sequestering capacity of normal and leukemic rat spleens for ⁵¹Cr-labeled rat erythrocytes that were damaged by heating in a 49.5° water bath for 20 min. Leukemia was induced in rats by i.v. injection of 10 x 10⁶ tumor cells obtained from Shay chloroleukemic donor rats. On the 10th postinjection day the recipient animal spleens were perfused. The results indicate that, as the leukemia progresses within the rat, splenic sequestration of damaged red blood cells is profoundly decreased. Reduced sequestering capacity was consistently evident in spleens obtained from leukemic animals in the late stages of the pathogenesis, as indicated by the percentage of leukemic myeloblasts in the bone marrow, and by splenic weight and histology. Reduced or unaltered sequestering capacity was found in spleens obtained from leukemic rats in which the pathogenesis was less advanced. In none of the leukemic spleens studied was cell sequestration enhanced. The findings suggest some form of mechanical impedance as one possible mechanism for the altered sequestration pattern of heat-injured erythrocytes in the spleens of leukemic rats.

¹ Supported by USPHS Grants AM 09321-05 from the National Institute of Arthritis and Metabolic Diseases and CA-07977-05 from the National Cancer Institute.

Received 5/12/69. Accepted 8/ 5/69.