[Nucleolar organizer activity of normal and leukemic cells in human bone marrow]

The nucleolus organizer activity of bone marrow cell chromosomes has been studied by silver staining (Howell, Black, 1980) for 6 healthy donors, 24 patients with acute leukemia, and 17 patients with chronic myelocytic leukemia, including 6 cases of blast crisis. In respect to the nucleolus organizer silver staining pattern, bone marrow cells of donors and of patients with leukemias appeared to be more heterogeneous than PHA-stimulated lymphocytes of the same individuals. The average numbers of Ag-stained nucleolus organizers per metaphase in donors (5.2 +/- 0.22), patients with chronic phases (4.9 +/- 0.30), and patients with blast crisis of myelocytic leukemia (5.3 +/- 0.37), and in those with acute leukemia (5.2 +/- 0.46) were lower than those in PHA-stimulated lymphocytes of the same individuals; a great part of bone marrow cell mitoses (from 19 up to 46%) being Ag-negative in all the above groups. A conclusion is made that the heterogeneity in silver staining of the nucleolus organizers in bone marrow cells is due mostly to differences in their mitotic cell maturity degrees. Prospects of employment of silver staining of nucleolus organizers in cells for clinical purposes are discussed.