title: Lymphocyte subpopulations in cerebrospinal fluid and peripheral blood in multiple sclerosis.
abstract: Lymphocytes subpopulations in cerebro-spinal fluid (CSF) and peripheral blood (PB) from multiple sclerosis (MS) patients were studied. PB of MS patients contains the same prevalence of E and EA rosette forming cells compared with controls, consisting of patients affected by various "nonimmunological" neuropsychiatric diseases. Cytochemical identification by the method of acid esterases in PB demonstrated in MS a prevalence of lymphocyte subpopulations similar to controls, and a relatively high percentage of macrophages compared with other methods, especially in MS patients: this may partially account for variable results obtained by various authors with the rosette technique. In CSF a significant decrease of total T, and particularly of T gamma cells, was found. Since T gamma lymphocytes have a suppressor effect on B cell proliferation and Ig synthesis, their decrease could be related with Ig hypersynthesis commonly found in the central nervous system of MS patients.
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001402:B-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology; D002555:Cerebrospinal Fluid / Q000166:cytology; D002648:Child; D006801:Humans; D007136:Immunoglobulins / Q000096:biosynthesis; D008214:Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology*; D008264:Macrophages / Q000276:immunology; D008875:Middle Aged; D009103:Multiple Sclerosis / Q000097:blood / Q000134:cerebrospinal fluid* / Q000276:immunology; D012397:Rosette Formation; D013601:T-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology
chemical_list: D007136:Immunoglobulins