Granulocytic precursors of the granulopoietic proliferating compartment (GPC) were investigated in patients suffering from refractory anemia (RA) of myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) to provide an information on the number of nucleoli and incidence of main nucleolar types in these cells stained with the simple cytochemical procedure for the demonstration of RNA. The results demonstrated that the incidence of main nucleolar types in all stages of the granulopoietic proliferating compartment in RA patients of MDS generally did not differ in comparison with that of control patients without a disturbed granulopoiesis. In contrast, the number of nucleoli expressed by the values of the nucleolar coefficient in all stages of GPC in RA patients was significantly smaller than in control persons. In addition, the values of the nucleolar coefficient of myeloblasts in patients with RA of MDS were close to those in patients with acute myeloid leukemias.

Institute of Hematology and Blood Transfusion Prague Czech Republic