Computer discrimination of splenocytes and peripheral blood lymphocytes from mice infected with friend murine leukemia virus

摘要

Mice infected with Friend virus were evaluated at various times after infection to correlate the biologic descriptors of a leukemic process with cell image features obtained by computerized scanning microphotometry of cells removed from the mice. Results show that cells removed from mice 32 days after infection, when biologic descriptors were positive, have features which differentiate them from normal cells.These features were used to detect viral altered cells at various times after infection. Computerized microphotometric analysis detects viral altered cells first in the spleen, then in the peripheral blood. A significant level of viral altered cells can be detected by day 4 in the spleen and by day 8 in the peripheral blood. Clinical signs of the disease are not apparent at this time. This study demonstrates the value of computerized microphotometric analysis for the early detection of leukemic processes before other signs of the disease are evident.