Traffic of T and B Lymphocytes in the Normal Spleen

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Abstract
The occurrence of C3b [b fragment of complement component 3] and C3d receptors and of Fc and E [erythrocyte] receptors in normal splenic tissue was studied in cryostat sections incubated with specific marker cells. There by the topographic distribution of T [thymus-derived] and B [bone marrow-derived] lymphocytes in the splenic tissue was mapped. TE lymphocytes are found especially in the periarteriolar sheaths, B lymphocytes in eccentric zones around the arterioles. The cells in the splenic pulp carry especially Fc, but also C3b receptors; C3d receptors appear to be specific of lymphocytes. The basic lymphocyte traffic behind the mapped distribution of the lymphocyte subpopulations in the spleen was elucidated by lymphocyte kinetic studies using autologous 51Cr-labeled reinfused lymphocytes. These studies were performed partly on normal persons and partly on splenectomized persons without immune defects. There apparently is an exchangeable pool of T as well as of B lymphocytes in the spleen, the T cell pool being larger and making up in normals about 30% of the total exchangeable T lymphocyte mass. The matrix for the T lymphocyte pool in the spleen is the periarteriolar sheaths. The difference in structure between the lymph nodes and the lymphoid tissue of the spleen, including differences in the distribution of lymphocyte subpopulations, are explained by the special vascular arrangement in the spleen.