118 The Lymphocyte and Lymphocytic Tissue 



up (Fig. 9-9) and for a time remain attached to the rest of the cytoplasm by 

 a very thin filament which eventually breaks and the bud floats away. When 

 this process is going on rapidly, one finds the efferent lymph loaded with 

 pieces of cytoplasm bearing a superficial resemblance to platelets. These 

 pieces of cytoplasm were described by Downey and Weidenreich, 14 who 

 called them hyaline bodies. Although these authors did not relate them to a 

 hormone-mediated effect, they did show that this effect was enhanced in 

 animals treated with cinnabar, and they also postulated that it was a secretory 

 phenomenon by which constituents of the cell cytoplasm were delivered to 

 the lymph. 



Following shedding of cytoplasm, and appearing as though it were an ex- 

 tension of this effect, the nucleus begins to shrink in size, loses its char- 

 acteristic chromatin pattern, becomes irregular, pycnotic, and hyperchro- 

 matic, and subsequently may break into pieces (karyorrhexis).' 1 Some years 

 ago, when this effect was first described in the endocrinologic literature, it 

 was called lymphocytolysis. Actually, this destructive effect is not a lytic but 

 a karyorrhectic phenomenon. We are certain that the cytoplasmic loss is 

 not necessarily total but may be a partial loss. 15 Further, Cortisol does not 

 necessarily produce nuclear destruction of all lymphocytes. 1 " 1 A given quan- 

 tity of Cortisol acting upon a variety of lymphocytes of different sizes and 

 having different amounts of cytoplasm appears to produce graded effects on 

 the cells, depending upon the maturity and size of the lymphocytes. The 

 most immature cells, such as reticular lymphocytes, are least affected by 

 Cortisol (Figs. 9-3, 9-5).° Conversely, small lymphocytes are extremely sus- 

 ceptible to the lymphocytorrhectic effects of this hormone. 1 ''' Medium-sized 

 lymphocytes appear to have intermediate susceptibility to hormone action. 

 These cells, however, display the most dramatic budding effects. Malignant 

 lymphocytes are similar to reticular lymphocytes in their resistance to both 

 the budding and lymphocytorrhectic hormonal effects. 17 



Subsequent to cellular destruction, there is phagocytosis of both nuclear 

 and cytoplasmic material (Fig. 9-5).° Within a few hours following Cortisol 

 administration, there is very little remaining evidence of cellular destruc- 

 tion. <: The rates of destruction, phagocytosis of nuclear and cytoplasmic 

 materia], and intracellular digestion are extremely rapid, so that unless 

 tissues are observed at various stages of this cyclic process, these events may 

 not be seen. It should be emphasized at t His point that the Cortisol effects are 

 due to direct action of the hormone and occur in vitro as well as in vivo. 13 

 Extensive studies have been performed in our laboratory on the structure 

 activity relationships of various closely related steroid hormones which regu- 

 late lymphatic cell growth and destruction. 10 The details of these observa- 

 tions may be found elsewhere as may similar studies performed using malig- 

 nant lymphocytes." 1 



