Observations on the Kurloff Bodies in the Blood of Guinea Pigs

Kurloff 1 first described granular inclusions within the cytoplasm of what he called lymphocytes in guinea pigs' blood. It was shown subsequently that the cells containing these bodies were monocytes. 2 Wright's stained blood smears reveal the Kurloff bodies as dark red, homogeneous masses in the cytoplasm. Although many workers have observed and studied these inclusions, little is known concerning their origin and function. They appear to be found only in the blood of guinea pigs.

Bender and DeWitt, 3 while studying the blood picture of tuberculous guinea pigs, observed that their normal control pigs showed an unexpected eosinophilia. At the same time, Kurloff bodies appeared in the blood. They decided that there was a relationship between eosinophilia and Kurloff bodies. They were able to reduce the eosinophiles with mercurial medication, but not the number of Kurloff bodies.

During an investigation 4 of eosinophilia in trichinous guinea pigs about 3 months old obtained from one source, I observed the number of Kurloff bodies in several hundred Wright's stained blood smears. The cells were counted 3 times a week for 6 to 8 weeks. All the animals had Kurloff bodies in their blood when first examined. Six normal control pigs had varying levels of eosinophiles. There was a definite, direct relationship both in the healthy and infected pigs between the number of eosinophile cells and the number of Kurloff bodies in the monocytes so that the high levels of eosinophile cells were accompanied by the greatest number of Kurloff bodies. It was possible to reduce markedly the number of eosinophile cells in trichinous animals by a staphylococcus infection, but this did not essentially affect the number of Kurloff bodies.