CHANGES IN CIRCULATING EOSINOPHILS IN WOMEN DURING THE MENSTRUAL CYCLE AND REPRODUCTION*

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Abstract
VARIATIONS in the number of circulating eosinophils were noted as early as 1910 by Dunger (1) who first devised an accurate method for counting these cells. A marked rise in the number of eosinophils is associated with many pathologic conditions. However, a decrease in the eosinophil count has been regarded as of little importance. As an example, the recently published textbook on disorders of the blood by Whitby and Britton (2) attaches no significance to eosinophil counts under 400 per cubic millimeter. However, Schilling (3) described an eosinopenia in the course of acute infections and regarded the failure of the eosinophils to return to the circulating blood as a grave sign. Renewed interest in circulating eosinophils followed the report of Dougherty and White (4), who demonstrated that pituitary adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) injected into rats produced an increase in the circulating neutrophils and a decrease in lymphocytes. They induced similar changes by the injection of 11-dehydroxy and 17-hydroxy corticosterone. De la Baize, et al. (5) found that in patients with Cushing's syndrome there was a leucocytosis and neutrophilia with a relative lymphopenia whereas in patients with Addison's disease there was a relative neutropenia and lymphocytosis.

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