ABSTRACT
Disodium cromoglycate binds in vitro and in vivo to lipids in white cells. Smears of cells from lymphocyte cultures and from bone marrow aspirates treated with DNCG and subsequently stained with pseudoisocyanine show a characteristic green fluorescence (515 nm) of membrane- and intracellular-lipids. It is suggested that the mode of action of DNCG in the prophylaxis of bronchial asthma could be the binding of DNCG to membrane lipids. This binding might block the IgE-mediated reaction on the surface of mast cells which otherwise would lead to degranulation and release of vasoactive substances.
Subject(s)
Cromolyn Sodium/metabolism , Lipid Metabolism , Bone Marrow Cells , Granulocytes , Humans , In Vitro Techniques , Lymphocytes , Membrane Lipids/metabolism , Microscopy, Fluorescence , Niemann-Pick Diseases , Staining and LabelingABSTRACT
In lymphocytes, monocytes and basophil granulocytes of patients with mucopolysaccharidosis specific fluorescence of acid mucopolysaccharides exists after fixation of blood smears with 9-aminoacridin-hydrochloride and subsequent staining with pseudoisocyanine at pH 4.2. A total of eleven children with various types of mucopolysaccharidosis were investigated. Specificaly stained granula were demonstrated in 5 to 49 percent of all lymphocytes and monocytes. Acid mucopolysaccharides were for the first time also shown in red-cell precursors of the bone marrow of children with mucopolysaccharidosis.