Cytochemical Analysis of Human Peripheral Blood Lymphocyte Subsets Defined by Monoclonal Antibodies

Human blood lymphocyte subpopulaiions, revealed by a panel of commercially available monoclonal antibodies by means of a resetting technique, were submitted to direct cyto-chemicat analysis and were shown to have distinguishing characteristics. T cells reactive with OKT3 antibody (T3⁺) displayed higher beta-glucuronidase and dot-like alpha-napnthyl acetate acid esterase (ANAE) activity than T3⁻ cells. Helper/inducer cells (T4⁺) were characterized by a high level of dot-like ANAE activity, whereas cytotoxic/suppressor cells (T8⁺) displayed selective naphthol-ASD-chloroacetate esterase activity. These results provide evidence for association of some cytoplasmic enzyme activities with the expression of membrane differentiation markers defined by monoclonal antibodies.