title: Incidence of nucleoli in erythroblasts in patients suffering from refractory anemia of myelodysplastic syndrome.
abstract: Nucleoli of erythroblasts have been studied in patients suffering from refractory anemia (RA) of myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) and in control patients without a disturbed erythropoiesis in order to provide information on the incidence of nucleoli and micronucleoli in these cells. Nucleoli in erythroblasts were visualized by a simple cytochemical procedure for the demonstration of RNA which facilitated the visualization not only large nucleoli but also micronucleoli in advanced stages of the erythroblastic maturation. In control patients nucleoli were detected in all stages of erythroblastic development. In patients suffering from RA of MDS, a relatively large population of polychromatic and orthochromatic erythroblasts was characterized by a loss of nucleoli accompanied by the decreased incidence of micronucleoli characteristic of these cells. In contrast to control patients, in patients suffering from RA of MDS the number of nucleoli expressed by the values of the nucleolar coefficient of erythroblasts was smaller, particularly in both the early and terminal stages of erythroblastic development. Thus in patients with RA of MDS both the abnormal loss of nucleoli and decreased number of nucleoli in erythroblasts apparently represent and reflect a further abnormality of disturbed erythropoiesis.
authors.affiliation: Clinical Section, Institute of Hematology and Blood Transfusion, Prague, Czech Republic. karel.smetana@uhkt.cz
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Smetana
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Jirásková
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Cermák
mesh_terms: D000753:Anemia, Refractory / Q000473:pathology*; D002466:Cell Nucleolus / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D004900:Erythroblasts / Q000473:pathology / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D006801:Humans; D009190:Myelodysplastic Syndromes / Q000473:pathology*