THE PREDOMINANT ROLE OF THE SPLEEN IN LYMPHOCYTE RECIRCULATION

Lymphocyte recirculation through the isolated pig spleen was studied by means of a perfusion system which kept the organ alive for a prolonged period of time. By changing the perfusate to a leucocyte-enriched or cell-free perfusate and taking serial arterial and venous samples, the numbers of lymphocytes which homed to or were released from the spleen were measured. In all experiments more lymphocytes homed than were released per minute. There was no apparent difference when autologous or allogeneic cells were used. The number of lymphocytes released depended on the number of lymphocytes homed previously. During the phase of constant release up to 3-3 × 10⁶ lymphocytes were released per gram spleen per minute. From these values it can be extrapolated that up to 270 × 10⁹ lymphocytes recirculate through the isolated pig spleen per day. Based on kinetic data from other species it is estimated that in the entire pig a total number of 300–400 × 10⁹ lymphocytes recirculate per day. Thus, it can be concluded that the spleen is the most important organ for lymphocyte recirculation in the pig.     

THE KINETICS OF LYMPHOCYTE RECIRCULATION WITHIN THE RAT SPLEEN

The migration of lymphocytes from the blood into the splenic pulp and the release of lymphocytes from the spleen into the blood was studied by isolating the rat spleen and perfusing it with 15 ml of recirculating, oxygenated blood. When thoracic duct lymphocytes labelled with tritiated uridine were added to the initial perfusate the concentration of these cells fell exponentially for 2–3 hr and then rose to a flat secondary peak. From this pattern it was inferred that small lymphocytes entered the spleen at a rate proportional to their instantaneous concentration in the perfusate, traversed the splenic pulp and re-entered the perfusate with a minimum transit time of 2–3 hr. The rate of release of small lymphocytes from the spleen was not influenced by the prevailing concentration of small lymphocytes in the perfusate but probably reflected the rate of migration into the spleen over a period earlier than 2 hr before. The rate of exchange of small lymphocytes between the blood and the intact spleen in vivo was estimated to be about 84 × 10⁶ cells/hr. The size of the intrasplenic pool of recirculating small lymphocytes was probably 400–500 × 10⁶ cells. The rate of migration of small lymphocytes into the spleen was not affected by prior irradiation of the spleen donor. When either of two antigenic materials were added to the perfusate no inhibition of lymphocyte migration into the spleen was noted although the release of lymphocytes from the spleen was diminished by the addition of a large dose of sheep erythrocytes.     

THE TEMPO OF LYMPHOCYTE RECIRCULATION FROM BLOOD TO LYMPH IN THE RAT

Radioactively labelled thoracic duct lymphocytes were obtained either by incubation in vitro with ³H-uridine or ¹⁴C-uridine or by giving potential donors repeated injections of ³H-thymidine finishing 17 days before thoracic duct cannulation. These labelled TDL were injected i.v. into syngeneic recipients which had been subjected to splenectomy and thoracic duct cannulation on the previous day. The tempo of lymphocyte recirculation from blood to lymph was reflected by the time at which radioactivity was recovered in the thoracic duct lymphocyte output of the recipient. This was measured by scintillation counting of 2-hourly fractional collections for 36 hr after the injection. Two lines of evidence showed that the majority of small lymphocytes which label intensely with radioactive uridine in vitro were uniform in their 'migration potential'with a modal blood to lymph transit time of 14–18 hr. By contrast the cells which were labelled in vivo with ³H-thymidine included a slower population with a modal transit time of 24–28 hr. These conclusions can be more fully interpreted in the light of recent evidence on thymic-independent ('B') lymphocytes.     

THE ROLE OF THE SPLEEN IN THE REPOPULATION OF THE HAEMOPOIETIC SYSTEM OF HEAVILY-IRRADIATED MICE

The respective role of the spleen or of the bone marrow in the regeneration of the haemopoietic progenitor compartment of heavily-irradiated mice has been investigated. Splenectomy was used to this end in animals injected with exogenous isogenic cells or regenerating from endogenous spleen or marrow cells. Analysis of the data as a function of time shows that the presence of the spleen affects marrow CFU repopulation only at the early post-irradiation stages. The expansion of the marrow progenitor pool proceeds, however, rather independently of the spleen and marrow CFU remain eventually as the main source of haemopoietic cells in the surviving mice. Thus the reaction of the spleen may be envisaged as a fast, important but transient contribution to the overall haemopoietic function of heavily-irradiated animals.     

乙酰胆碱对培养T细胞功能的作用

本文研究不同浓度（１０＾－１０－１０＾－４ｍｏｌ／Ｌ）乙酰胆碱（ＡＣｈ）对离体培养的大鼠脾脏Ｔ淋巴细胞增殖的影响,并探讨其作用机制。实验结果表明：１０＾－９－１０＾－４ｍｏｌ／Ｌ可显著增强Ｔ细胞由刀豆素Ａ（Ｃ－Ａ）诱导的增殖反应,以１０＾－７－１０＾－６ｍｏｌ／Ｌ时最强。淋巴细胞先用ＡＣｈ刺激１ｈ或者刺激１ｈ后洗弃ＡＣｈ,再用ＣｏｎＡ诱导６ｈ的Ｔ细胞的增殖。１０＾－７－１０－６ｍｏｌ／Ｌ阿托品可阻     

THE ROLE OF PLASMODESMS IN THE TRANSLOCATION OF VIRUS

Although intracellular inclusion bodies may occur in every cell over large areas of the epidermis, they have not been found in the guard cells of the stomata. No protoplasmic connexions could be shown to exist between the guard cells and the surrounding tissues. These findings suggest that, owing to the absence of plasmodesms, the virus is unable to reach the guard cells. Support is lent to the view that, when the virus moves in the ground tissue of the host, it is carried from cell to cell along the protoplasmic bridges.