Surface coats on human lymphocytes: freeze-drying and staining with cations.

Surface coats can be demonstrated on human peripheral blood lymphocytes by staining with ruthenium red, alcian blue, Thorotrast, and cationized ferritin, which are similar in distribution to a 40- to 65-nm layer of amorphous extracellular material recently reported on fixed, freeze-dried lymphocytes. Several additional lines of evidence, including X-ray microanalysis, suggest that the latter is not a contaminant added by freeze-drying. Freeze-drying may provide the means for a morphological assessment of the lymphocyte surface, including the extracellular coat, which may give additional insight into the immune response.