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American Journal of Pathology, Vol 137, 27-41, Copyright © 1990 by American Society for Investigative Pathology

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A morphometric study of normodense and hypodense human eosinophils that are derived in vivo and in vitro

JP Caulfield, A Hein, ME Rothenberg, WF Owen, RJ Soberman, RL Stevens and KF Austen
Department of Pathology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts 02115.

Hypodense eosinophils were obtained from two patients with the idiopathic hyperosinophilic syndrome (IHES), and hypodense eosinophils were derived by culturing normodense human eosinophils from control donors in the presence of endothelial cells alone, granulocyte/macrophage-colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF) alone, or GM- CSF and fibroblasts. These eosinophils were examined ultrastructurally and stereologically for alterations in the volume density (Vv) of their electron-dense granules, the Vv of their lucent granules, the Vv of their lipid droplets, the numerical density of their granules with respect to cytoplasm (Nv), and the plasma membrane surface area-to-cell volume ratio (Sv) that might account for their decreased sedimentation density. The hypodense eosinophils that were obtained from the two patients with IHES exhibited a one-third reduction in granule Vv relative to normodense eosinophils from control donors, primarily because of a decrease in granule size. The culture-derived hypodense eosinophils exhibited 10% to 16% decreases in their granule Vv, significant increases in their lucent granules, and a approximately 7.5% decrease in their Sv. Calculation of the cell volume from cross- sectional area measurements showed that the eosinophils that had been cocultured with fibroblasts in the presence of GM-CSF increased their volume by approximately 15%. The eosinophils that had been cocultured with endothelial cells exocytosed some of their granules. In conclusion, a composite of factors including cell swelling, a decrease in the volume of the cytoplasm occupied by granules, and an increase in granule lucency contributes to the hypodense phenotype in vitro, but only cell swelling and hypogranulation are seen in cells from patients with IHES. The latter could reflect the response of 'primed' hypodense eosinophils in vivo to pertinent tissue ligands.

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