Studies on the Blood of the Albino Rat. 131 



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Studies on the blood of the albino rat. 

 Its normal cellular constituents. Their reaction to sarcoma 

 growth and to benzol treatment. 



By Kenneth Taylor, M.A., M.D. (by invitation.) 



[ From the Laboratories of the Department of Medicine, University of 



Minnesota.] 



While working with a transmissible sarcoma of the white rat 

 it was found desirable to note the changes in the blood picture 

 during the growth of the tumor. With the idea of establishing the 

 normal, a careful search of the available literature on the blood of 

 the albino rat (and also the common wild rat) was made. No 

 reports on the blood plates and only a few on the leucocytes of 

 this animal could be found. For this reason, and because of the 

 growing importance of the white rat as a laboratory animal and its 

 availability for tumor work, it has seemed advisable to contribute 

 this small series of studies on the blood of albino rats, with special 

 reference to the blood plates in the normal animal. The changes 

 in the blood picture due to sarcoma growth and benzol treatment 

 have been observed. 



Hans Hirschfeld 1 in a paper on the differential morphology of 

 the white cells of the blood reported the usual types of cells to be 

 present in the blood of rats of mixed and albino breeds. He noted 

 especially a cell with annular nucleus and fine eosinophilic granules. 

 He did not report the usual number of white cells or their differ- 

 ential count. 



Pappenheim 2 was the first to report in brief the changes in the 

 blood of the albino rat coincident with the progress of fatal trans- 

 missible sarcoma. His conclusions were that, except for a very 

 slight secondary anemia and a great degree of polychromatophilia 

 and granular degeneration of the red cells, there was little reaction 

 on the part of the blood until the tumor ulcerated, when a marked 

 leucocytosis appeared. 



1 Virchow Archiv, 1897, CXLIX, p. 22. 



2 Folia Ilematol., Vol. X, 2, p. 393. 



