The present nuclear and cell body diameter measurements demonstrated size differences of the approximate cell space estimate occupied by the cell nucleus during the cell differentiation in lymphocytic, granulocytic and erythroid cell lineages. These lineages were used as convenient models because all differentiation steps were easily identified and accessible in diagnostic peripheral blood or bone marrow smears of blood donors (BDs), patients suffering from chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), patients with chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) and refractory anemia (RA) of the myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS). The cell space occupied by the nucleus was constant and did not change during the cell differentiation in the lymphocytic cell lineages of BDs and CLL patients despite the decreased cell size. In contrary, the cell space occupied by the nucleus markedly decreased in differentiating cells of granulocytic and erythroid lineages of patients suffering from CML. In the erythroid cell lineage in patients with RA of MDS the small reduction of the cell space occupied by the nucleus during the differentiation was not significant. The measurements also indicated that in progenitor cells of all studied cell lineages nuclei occupied more than 70 % of the cell space. Thus, the nucleus-cytoplasmic morphological and functional equilibrium appeared to be characteristic for each differentiation step and each specific cell lineage.

• MeSH
• Cell Differentiation * MeSH
• Cell Nucleus * MeSH
• Leukemia, Lymphocytic, Chronic, B-Cell pathology   MeSH
• Leukemia, Myelogenous, Chronic, BCR-ABL Positive pathology   MeSH
• Erythroid Cells cytology   MeSH
• Granulocytes cytology   MeSH
• Humans MeSH
• Lymphocytes cytology   MeSH
• Anemia, Refractory pathology   MeSH
• Check Tag
• Humans MeSH
• Publication type
• Journal Article MeSH

Early leukemic granulocytic and plasmacytic precursors were studied in vitro and in vivo to provide an information on the intranucleolar distribution of AgNORs (silver stained nucleolus organizer regions). In most of these cells AgNORs appeared as clusters of silver stained particles distributed in the whole nucleolar body. On the other hand, in some leukemic early granulocytic precursors, i.e., in myeloblasts and promyelocytes enlarged AgNORs were translocated in the nucleolar peripheral part. In addition, the number of translocated AgNORs at the nucleolar periphery was significantly smaller. Such translocation of a reduced number of AgNORs was easily produced by experimental aging, i.e., starving of cultured leukemic early granulocytic precursors (HL-60 and K562 cells) in vitro and seems to be reversible. Similar translocation of a reduced number of AgNORs was also produced by aging of leukemic plasmacytic precursors. Thus, the translocation of the reduced number of AgNORs to the nucleolar periphery in some blastic leukemic hematopoietic cells might be an useful marker of their aging at the single cell level. However, more studies in this direction are required in the future.

• MeSH
• Silver Staining MeSH
• Cell Nucleolus metabolism   MeSH
• Cell Cycle physiology   MeSH
• K562 Cells MeSH
• Bone Marrow Cells metabolism   MeSH
• DNA, Neoplasm metabolism   MeSH
• Granulocytes metabolism   ultrastructure   MeSH
• HL-60 Cells MeSH
• Leukemia metabolism   MeSH
• Humans MeSH
• Nucleolus Organizer Region metabolism   MeSH
• Plasma Cells metabolism   ultrastructure   MeSH
• RNA, Neoplasm metabolism   MeSH
• Cellular Senescence physiology   MeSH
• Protein Transport MeSH
• Check Tag
• Humans MeSH
• Publication type
• Journal Article MeSH
• Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't MeSH
• Names of Substances
• DNA, Neoplasm MeSH
• RNA, Neoplasm MeSH