Improvements of the electrophoretic mobility test to measure lymphocyte sensitization

The Electrophoretic Mobility (EM)-test was performed in 316 children to examine their lymphocyte sensitization to a common antigen by measuring the mobility of special indicator cells. The results indicate that this test can serve as an additional help in differential diagnosis of malignant and non-malignant diseases. Measurements in the cytopherometer were facilitated by introducing several technical modifications: 1) The original method of timing with a stopwatch was replaced by two electric watches electrically combined with the cytopherometer. Thus individual faults were reduced. The next improvement of timing at the cytopherometer consisted in the construction of an electronic controller and stopwatch in combination with a minicomputer, data print out, and tape recorder in order to get more reliable results. 2) Further automatic recording of the data is time-sparing and useful for correct evaluation of the EM-test. That can be done now directly on-line in a calculator with a program developed in our laboratory. 3) By using a television monitor for the observation of the indicator particles an additional simplification is possible.