gamma-Glutamyltranspeptidase activity in intact leukocytes: flow cytometric analysis and sorting.

A fluorescent method developed for visualizing gamma-glutamyltranspeptidase (GGT) in intact liver cells was adapted to leukocytes and used in a multiparameter flow cytometric study of blood and bone marrow cells from rats with subcutaneous implants of mammary carcinoma 5A. The severe granulocytosis caused by this non-metastatic tumor was preceded by a progressive rise in the percentage of leukocytes with high GGT fluorescence. Both granulocytes and small, immature cells of bone marrow showed increased GGT expression, whereas in blood this increase was attributable entirely to mature granulocytes. At 28 days (but not yet at 14 days) after carcinoma implantation, 20-30% of blood or bone marrow granulocytes constituted a distinct subpopulation in that their GGT fluorescence intensity range was much higher and did not overlap with the range for the rest of the population. The results indicate that fluorescent GGT assay of intact leukocytes provides a useful probe for flow cytometric analysis of population heterogeneity in leukoproliferative disorders.