The equine spleen: An electron microscopic analysis
- 1 April 1983
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Wiley in Journal of Anatomy
- Vol. 166 (4), 393-416
- https://doi.org/10.1002/aja.1001660403
Abstract
The capacity of the equine spleen to store and rapidly release as much as half the circulating blood volume after adrenergic stimulation depends upon the size of the spleen, its muscular capsule, and the distinctive structure of its red pulp. The unit, or lobule, of red pulp is a cylinder of pulp spaces organized in a reticular meshwork, supplied by a peripheral ring of arterial capillaries, and drained by a central venule. Reticular cells, which make up the meshwork of the pulp, contain an extraordinarily large complement of microfilaments and intermediate filaments and are richly innervated by nerves containing both dense and lucent core vesicles typical of adrenergic nerves. The wall of the pulp venule contains large apertures. The capacious red pulp would thus appear capable both of large‐scale blood storage and, by the contractile adrenergic innervated reticulum and open venous vasculature, of rapid expression of stored blood into the circulation. Antigen‐presenting cells are present not only in B and T cell zones in white pulp but in the periarterial macrophage sheath of red pulp as well. The periarterial macrophage sheath is one of the first sites of antigen capture, and the presence of these cells confers on it an immunological role.Keywords
This publication has 38 references indexed in Scilit:
- Circulatory Effects of Splenectomy in the Horse1Zentralblatt für Veterinärmedizin Reihe A, 2010
- The immunobiology of Langerhans cellsImmunology Today, 1981
- Periarterial macrophage sheaths (Ellipsoids) in cat spleen—an electron microscope studyJournal of Anatomy, 1981
- Differentiation of Function among Antigen‐Presenting CellsPublished by Wiley ,1981
- Antigen‐Presenting Cells Including Langerhans Cells, Veiled Cells and Interdigitating CellsPublished by Wiley ,1981
- Contribution of dendritic cells to stimulation of the murine syngeneic mixed leukocyte reaction.The Journal of Experimental Medicine, 1980
- Macrophages and the Differential Migration of LymphocytesPublished by Wiley ,1980
- Comparative migration of B- and T-lymphocytes in the rat spleen and lymph nodesCellular Immunology, 1976
- Circulatory Effects of Splenectomy in the Horse1)Zentralblatt für Veterinärmedizin Reihe A, 1973
- Effects of a bacterial vaccine on the marginal zone of the spleenJournal of Anatomy, 1971