Reactions of Hemoglobiniferous Cells to Aced and Basic Dyes under Varying Conditions of H-Ion Activity

An attempt has been made to apply Loeb's concept of the amphoteric nature of proteins for the discrimination of suspected hemoglobiniferous substances from known hemoglobiniferous substances according to their reactions to acid and basic dyes with reference to the isoelectric point of hemoglobin (pH 6.8).2. The substances in the cytoplasm of known hemoglobiniferous cells (red blood corpuscles, normoblasts and erythroblasts) of the lymph nodes, spleen and bone marrow of the albino rat, when suspended in buffered dye-sucrose solutions, retain eosin on the acid side of pH 7.0, but the substances of the Russell bodies, suspected of being hemoglobiniferous, do not retain eosin at all; and the cytoplasm of the plasma cells, also alleged to be slightly hemoglobiniferous, only retains eosin on the acid side of pH 6.4.3. The only basic dye used which did not precipitate in buffer solutions was methylene blue. This did not react with hemoglobin in accordance with Loeb's concept, because it did not penetrate mature red blood corpuscles and in those immature erythrocytes which it did penetrate it was precipitated by the reticulum.4. Therefore, from the results obtained with the acid dye, it is tentatively concluded that the substance in the Russell bodies and in the cytoplasm of the plasma cells are not hemoglobiniferous because they do not react as do the substances in known hemoglobiniferous cells with reference to the isoelectric point of hemoglobin.5. More investigation, however, must be carried out on both fresh and fixed material before a final unequivocal answer can be made to this problem.