Flow cytometric detection of lymphocyte alterations in Huntington's disease.
Several recent reports indicate that patients with Huntington's Disease (HD) may manifest membrane abnormalities in a wide variety of cells including peripheral blood lymphocytes. In this study, flow cytometry is used in conjunction with the fluorescent membrane probe, 8-anilino-1-naphthalene sulfonate (ANS), to examine peripheral blood lymphocytes from 16 HD patients and 14 age- and diet-matched control subjects. Increased ANS fluorescence intensity of lymphocytes (p less than 0.02) was found in HD patients as compared to control subjects. These differences are masked when the mean fluorescence of the total leukocyte population is measured, possibly explaining conflicting data of other investigators. These observed differences in ANS fluorescence intensity between HD patients and control subjects support the concept of a gene defect which may be expressed as membrane alterations in non-neural as well as neural cells. The selective alterations of lymphocytes may also reflect altered immunological activity reported in HD.
Gollin
S M
SM
Leary
J F
JF
Shoulson
I
I
Doherty
R A
RA
D000328:Adult; D000817:Anilino Naphthalenesulfonates; D014150:Antipsychotic Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use; D005260:Female; D005434:Flow Cytometry; D006801:Humans; D006816:Huntington Disease / Q000097:blood* / Q000188:drug therapy; D008214:Lymphocytes / Q000166:cytology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012737:Sex Factors; D013050:Spectrometry, Fluorescence
D000817:Anilino Naphthalenesulfonates; D014150:Antipsychotic Agents; C027132:1-anilino-8-naphthalenesulfonate