Abstract
We recently developed a method of proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy (1H-MRS) to measure the 1H-MR spectra of peripheral blood lymphocytes (PBL) using only 107 cells. We investigated the clinical feasibility of this method for evaluating disease activities in sarcoidosis and interstitial pneumonitis. PBL was separated from 10ml of venous blood by differential centrifugation with Ficoll-Conray. Using a 90MHz MR spectrometer (EX90, JEOL), the spectrum was obtained with 4000 times accumulation of 1H signals by single 70 degree pulses at 37°C under spinning. Water signal was suppressed with the homo-gated decoupling sequence. The spectra were analyzed with Gaussian curve fitting. The spectra of patients with active disease showed significant increases in peak heights for (CH2)n and CH3 peaks compared with the control. The peak heights decreased after improvement of disease states. The changes in 1H-MR spectra suggested activation of PBL in patients with sarcoidosis and interstitial pneumonitis, since similar changes have been shown for cells activated with mitogens. Our preliminary results indicate that 1H-MRS may be useful to evaluate activation of PBL in sarcoidosis and interstitial pneumonitis.
