Light green crystals in May-Grünwald and Giemsa-stained bone marrow macrophages in patients with myeloid leukaemia.
A patient in a terminal stage of myelomocytic leukaemia had a number of elongated crystals in many bone marrow macrophages. The crystals were up to 20 micron long, showed a characteristic light green colour with May-Grünwald & Giemsa, but did not stain with Sudan Black B or PAS. Electron microscopy showed that many of the crystals had a rhomboid form, but failed to show periodicity with the magnification used. A search was made for similar light green crystalline inclusions in patients with different types of leukaemia. Identical inclusions were found in 2 out of 5 other cases of myelomonocytic leukaemia, and in 3 out of 5 cases of chronic myeloid leukaemia. In contrast, such inclusions were not found in any of 6 patients with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia, nor in 4 patients with chronic lymphocytic leukaemia.
D001853:Bone Marrow / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D001854:Bone Marrow Cells; D006801:Humans; D002479:Inclusion Bodies / Q000648:ultrastructure; D007945:Leukemia, Lymphoid / Q000648:ultrastructure; D007951:Leukemia, Myeloid / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D015470:Leukemia, Myeloid, Acute / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D008264:Macrophages / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D013194:Staining and Labeling