Summary
Light- and electron microscopic studies reveal that the peri-arteriolar lymphocytic sheath of the rat spleen can be divided into two areas. The central area contains small lymphocytes, interdigitating cells (IDC, light staining cells with extensive cytoplasmic interdigitations) and some scattered reticulum cells. The peripheral area contains a mixed population of lymphocytes and circumferentially oriented reticulum cells. It is shown that only the central area of the peri-arteriolar lymphocytic sheath is thymus-dependent. In neonatally thymectomized rats, before interdigitating cells appear, monocytes and promonocytes reside in this area. It is suggested that the IDC are part of the mononuclear phagocyte system (Langevoort et al., 1970). They probably form the micro-environment necessary for the differentiation and proliferation of T-cells. The analogies between IDC, epithelioid cells and the macrophages in the migration inhibition test are discussed. The hypothesis is put forward that these cells are similar in ultrastructural and functional aspects because all three are macrophages under the influence of humoral factors from T-cells, such as migration inhibition factor.
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The author wishes to thank Prof. Dr. H. L. Langevoort for advice and stimulating discussion Dr. E. C. M. Hoefsmit for hospitality in the Department for Electron Microscopy of the Faculty of Medicine of the Free University; Mrs. D. Reichelt-Horačková for technical and Miss E. M. Ligtvoet for secretarial assistance.
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Veerman, A.J.P. On the interdigitating cells in the thymus-dependent area of the rat spleen: A relation between the mononuclear phagocyte system and T-lymphocytes. Cell Tissue Res. 148, 247–257 (1974). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00224586
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00224586