The nitroblue tetrazolium test in juvenile rheumatoid arthritis and the stimulation of granulocytes by patients sera.

The spontaneous NBT test was used in 57 children with juvenile rheumatoid arthritis (JRA) and another connective tissue diseases. The patients were grouped according to the various manifestations and divided into different stages of activity. The patients with tendosynovitis and unknown arthralgia showed a negative test. Patients with morbus Wissler without exudative joint manifestations were also NBT-negative, to a large degree. By contrast, all manifestations with joint involvement showed a high per centage of positive results in the NBT test. In a second investigation, the granulocytes of normal persons were stimulated by sera of patients with various manifestations of JRA. The sera of patients with joint manifestations all caused a stimulation of the granulocytes of normal persons, compared with the controls, in which pooled human serum was employed. Stimulation of granulocytes with serum of Wissler patients proved impossible, however.