Studies of the Pelger-Huët anomaly in foxhounds

An inbred family of foxhounds with four members expressing the Pelger-Huët (P-H) anomaly is described. The disease-free status of all P-H affected dogs suggests a benign disorder, although review of breeding records indicated a lower percentage of pups weaned (63%) by P-H females compared with the percentage of pups weaned (81%) by outcrossed females throughout the foxhound colony. Light-microscopic examination of blood films from affected dogs revealed 50--67% neutrophils with round, oval, or bean-shaped nuclei and rarely (0.5%) segmented nuclei. Neutrophils examined by electron microscopy showed the nuclei to have a fine nuclear cleft and condensed chromatin and the cytoplasm to have mature heterochromatic granulation. Local P-H neutrophil mobilization through a standard skin abrasion into a chamber containing autologous serum was impaired at all time periods evaluated (1, 4, 8, and 24 hours) compared with the neutrophil mobilization by normal dogs. Antibody response to sheep erythrocyte immunization was also impaired. In vitro reactivity of normal and P-H lymphocytes stimulated by pokeweed mitogen was depressed when lymphocytes were cultured in plasma from a P-H dog but not when cultured in plasma from a normal dog. Vigorous blastogenic responses to phytohemagglutinin by normal and P-H lymphocytes cultured in P-H or normal plasma suggest the presence of a factor(s) in the P-H plasma which interferes with B-lymphocyte reactivity.