Adherence of Recirculating T and B Lymphocytes to High Endothelium of Lymph Nodes <i>in Vitro</i>

Abstract

Abstract Lymph nodes of murine animals contain segments of venules lined by high endothelial cells and it is specifically through such vessels that lymphocytes migrate from the blood into this tissue (1). Previous studies from this laboratory have shown that lymphocytes obtained from thoracic duct lymph, lymph nodes, and spleen are capable of adhering selectively to high endothelial cell venules (HEV)3 when the cells are deposited over glutaraldehyde-fixed frozen sections of syngeneic lymph nodes (2). The results suggest that surface membranes of recirculating lymphocytes possess recognition structures that mediate interaction with HEV. Recirculating lymphocytes are a mixture of T and B cells and both populations are known to enter the nodes by crossing HEV (3–5). However, T cell recirculation from blood to lymph occurs more rapidly than that of B cells (3, 6). The basis for the difference in tempo of recirculation is not known but one possibility is that these populations differ with respect to their affinity for HEV (3).