Age‐dependent Changes in the Electrophoretic Mobilities of Human Blood Lymphocytes

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Abstract
Distribution of the anodic electrophoretic mobilities (EPM) of human peripheral blood lymphocytes was determined for lymphocytes isolated from umbilical cord blood and from blood of individuals 6 mo. to 93 yr of age. The distribution was bimodal in infants up to 2 yr of age and suggested a small percentage of cells with a mobility of 0.95 .mu.m s-1 V-1 cm. This value was chosen to discriminate between low-mobility cells (LMC) and high-mobility cells (HMC). The relative percentage of LMC increased from birth to 2 yr and 2 types of LMC could be distinguished. The distribution was unimodal and asymmetric in children and adults and nearly Gaussian in aged people. Substantial differences between distributions of the lymphocyte EPM were seen on comparison of histograms for individuals of similar ages. The analysis of distribution of the lymphocyte EPM on cell suspensions enriched in, or depleted of T [thumus-derived] or B [bone marrow-derived] cells confirmed mobility of most T cells to be higher than mobility of most B cells, whatever the age of the individual. Distribution of lymphocyte EPM determined in the same adult over a 6 yr period showed minor variations.