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Perturbation of Lymphocyte Circulation in Experimental Murine Leprosy

II. Nature of the Defect¹

Division of Infectious Disease, Department of Medicine, University of Kentucky College of Medicine, Lexington, Kentucky 40506

Abstract

Intravenous infusion of radiolabeled thoracic duct lymphocytes (TDL)² from normal syngeneic donors to rats experimentally infected with Mycobacterium lepraemurium fails to produce a significant increase of cell output and radioactivity within the thoracic duct lymph. Conversely, there is a marked increase in cell counts and radioactivity in the thoracic duct lymph of control recipients.

Splenectomy of infected rats prior to the infusion significantly increased the output of cells and radioactivity from the TD of these rats although it was not restored to normal. Serial quantitation of radioactivity in lymphoid organs of infected rats after infusion of ⁵¹Cr-labeled TDL revealed significantly increased uptake by the spleen as compared with the spleens of controls. Thus, the spleen of infected rats was a major trap for recirculating TDL. TDL were also trapped to a lesser extent by the lymph nodes and liver of infected rats.

The circulation of TDL was not disturbed significantly in control rats with massive splenomegaly and red pulp hyperactivity induced by i.p. injection of methyl cellulose. Since murine leprosy preferentially involves the periarteriolar lymphocyte sheaths of the splenic white pulp and paracortical area of lymph nodes, it is suggested that the disturbance of lymphocyte circulation is secondary to pathology within these areas.

Footnotes

¹ This work was supported by United States Public Health Service Grant AI 10094.

² Abbreviations used in this paper: TD, thoracic duct; TDL, thoracic duct lymphocytes; MC, methyl cellulose.