PLATELET-LIKE BODIES IN URINE OF PATIENTS WITH LEUKAEMIA

Abstract

In urine of normal and sick persons, platelets and/or cell components originated from platelets are always observed (The authors have called these bodies “platelet-like bodies”).
This study examined the small bodies in urine of 3 patients with acute myelogenous leukaemia (AML), 2 patients with chronic myelogenous leukaemia (CML) and one patient with acute monocytic leukaemia (AMoL). The appearances of small bodies in urine of these patients were spheroid or ellipsoid with rough and irregular surface, and azurophile granules were not stained with Giemsa stain.
The transmission electron microscopic findings of the small bodies were as following: AML-The limiting membranes and the exterior coats were sometimes reserved and the high electron-dense and fine granules were diffusely distributed in the matrix, but some of the small bodies were edematous. The electron density of the dense bodies was relatively lower and the very dense bodies were rarely observed. In the matrix were relatively many vesicles. Mitochondria and glycogen particles were observed, but dense tubular system (DTS) and microtubules (MT) were unknown. CML—The limiting membranes were sometimes partly reserved, and the matrix had swollen or been destroyed. Most of the dense bodies had swollen and its electron density decreased, and glycogen particles were diffusely scattered in the matrix. The other organelles were unknown. AmoL—Some of the small bodies had swollen and been destroyed, and the swollen dense bodies and glycogen particles were observed in the matrix as with CML. Some of the small bodies had lost its limiting membranes and the matrix was edematous and fine granular, in which glycogen particles were diffusely scattered, and many tubular components and the amorphous masses suggesting the degeneration were prominent.