Amino acid transport in human tonsillar lymphocytes with regard to patient's age and tonsillar diseases.

Amino acid transport in human tonsillar lymphocytes was investigated in 32 patients of various ages and with different tonsillar diseases. Tonsillar lymphocytes appeared to possess at least four different transport systems for neutral amino acids including the activated Na+-dependent A system transport. The transport activity of neutral amino acid was significantly higher in child cases than in adult cases. In adult cases with focal tonsillitis, tonsillar lymphocytes were taken from patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and skin diseases as secondary lesions who showed good improvement of the skin lesions after tonsillectomy. These lymphocytes were revealed to have more activated Na+-dependent transport than those from patients with skin diseases who showed poor improvement of the skin lesions after the tonsillectomy, and those from patients with recurrent tonsillitis. The characteristics of amino acid transport in human tonsillar lymphocytes and changes influenced by age and tonsillar diseases are discussed.