Application of in-vitro techniques to determine proliferation in human sarcoid lymph nodes

Sarcoidosis is suggested to be a granulomatous disease with high-turnover characteristics. In this paper the turnover of the inflammatory cells (the epithelioid cells) in lymph node granulomas from sarcoidosis patients is described. Uniform slices of granulomatous lymph nodes were incubated with 3H-thymidine; autoradiographically the DNA-synthesizing cells, parameter for local proliferation, were detected and the L.I. (labelling index) was determined. We observed mostly low-turnover reactions, incidentally granulomas with high-turnover characteristics are found within the same lymph node. The uptake of 3H-TdR demonstrates that these granulomas could be in different stages of activation.