Characterization of living normal and leukemic mouse lymphocytes by fluorescein diacetate

The esterases activity of normal and acute leukemic mouse lymphocytes and that of their homogenates was investigated using fluorescein diacetate (FDA) as a fluorogenic substrate. The activity proved to be the same for the two cell populations as well as for the homogenates prepared from them. In cell suspensions, having different osmolalities, the rate of FDA hydrolysis decreased significantly with the increasing osmolality only in the case of intact leukemic lymphocytes. changes in the membrane and cytoplasmic viscosity caused by increased or decreased environmental osmolality of cell suspensions occurred in the same direction and to the same extent for both normal and leukemic cells. Fluorescein, the fluorescent product of the hydrolysis, accumulates in leukemic lymphocytes, whereas it easily effluxes form normal lymphocytes. A flow microfluorimetry analysis of the cell population revealed that the fluorescein content of large leukemic lymphocytes was three times higher than that of small, normal ones. The observed differences specific for leukemic lymphocytes might be useful in detecting leukemic transformation in an early stage of acute lymphoid leukemia.