Ric Joseph
Eosinophils contain a powerful neurotoxin that can severely damage myelinated neurons in experimental animals. M. H. Gordon described this neurotoxic reaction in 1932; it is now known as the "Gordon phenomenon" in his honor. At present, the characteristic and easily recognizable neurologic and histopathologic changes that occur after injection of eosinophil extracts into laboratory animals provide the only available assay for the eosinophil-derived neurotoxin (EDN). The neurologic abnormalities include stiffness and ataxia, progressing to severe paralysis. Histopathologically, there is selective and widespread loss of Purkinje cells and severe spongiform degeneration in the white matter of the cerebellum, brain stem, and spinal cord. Purification of Eosinophils. Eosinophils from patient 1 were purified from ascitic fluid that contained a high proportion of eosinophils. Leukocytes from this ascitic fluid were partially purified by centrifugation after layering on Ficoll/ Hypaque as described.