| Abstract: | Because monocytes and their precursors cannot be recognized with certainty in tissues, an approach to the study of monocyte kinetics was made through examination of the peripheral blood. Injection of a single pulse of tritiated thymidine into rats resulted in the appearance of labeled monocytes identified as circulating peroxidase-positive mononuclear cells. The increase in the percent of labeled cells and in the mean grain count per cell followed a course described by a mathematical model with a generation time of 21 hours and a DNA synthesis time of 12.5 hours. The generation and synthesis times appear to be very uniform for the monocyte so that the phasing of cells represented by the uptake of label could be followed for more than two generations, a property not shared by neutrophils or lymphocytes. Monocytes appear in the circulation within eight hours of DNA synthesis. |
