The influence of disease activity on the number of blood cells of multiple sclerosis patients

Alpha-naphthyl-acetate-esterase activity in cerebrospinal fluid cells

Mono-histiocytes and T-lymphocytes were assessed by the cytochemical alpha-naphthyl-acetate-esterase (ANAE) stain in 50 CSF samples of patients with various neurological diseases. The ANAE-activity of lymphocytes was decreased in multiple sclerosis and subacute sclerosing panencephalitis, while the activity of mono-histiocytes was increased in the group of infarctions and bacterial and viral infections of the central nervous system. In bacterial meningitis and viral meningo-encephalo-radiculitis the number of ANAE-positive lymphocytes increased after treatment and clinical improvement. ANAE staining appears to be a useful additional tool in CSF cytology in these conditions.

T-lymphocyte subsets modifications in multiple sclerosis: correlation with clinical disease activity

Serial analyses of peripheral blood T-lymphocyte subsets were performed in 280 samples collected over a 27 months period from 14 multiple sclerosis patients. A significant decrease of T8+ cells was found in 47.1% (47/87) of blood samples collected within four weeks of onset of a relapse opposed to 2.1% (1/47) of samples collected during the four weeks before a relapse and to 3.4% (5/146) of those collected over four weeks after a relapse. Changes of T-cells subsets appear to correlate with disease activity, but normal findings observed before relapses suggest that the decrease of T8+ cells cannot be used as valid predictor of relapse.