Permanent slide preparations of T lymphocyte-sheep red blood cell rosettes

Rosette formation between sheep erythrocytes (SRBC) and human thymus-derived lymphocytes (T cells) is used to monitor T cells in various human diseases. Rosettes are usually counted in a hemacytometer immediately after preparation. This paper reports a technique for permanently fixing and staining rosettes for serial and comparative studies, a procedure which has probably been less well standardized, less reproducibly performed, and less widely used than many investigators appreciate. The technique describedhas the advantages of providing distinct morphological identification of the rosette-forming cell and it produces a permanent mount for further reference.