A quantitative study of alpha-naphthyl acetate esterase-positive cells in non-Hodgkin's lymphomas and reactive lymph nodes.

The numbers of alpha-naphthyl acetate esterase (ANAE)-containing cells (other than T lymphocytes) in non-Hodgkin's lymphomas (NHL) and reactive lymph nodes have been counted, using the Reichert-Jung (Kontron) MOP-AMO3 user-controlled image analyzer. Twenty specimens of NHL and ten reactive nodes were examined. Cells were demonstrated by their content of acid alpha-naphthyl acetate esterase (ANAE) in fixed frozen sections. It was found that lymphomas of high-grade malignancy contained much larger numbers of ANAE-positive cells (10.8-20.5%) than those of low-grade malignancy (1.4-4.1%). The number of ANAE-positive cells (1.4-3.2%) in reactive lymph nodes was similar to that in low-grade NHL nodes.