Immunohistochemical identification of T-and B-lymphocytes delineated by the unlabeled antibody enzyme method. II. Anatomical distribution of T- and B-cells in lymphoid organs of nude mice.

Tissue sections of the spleen, lymph nodes, and Peyer's patches were examined using an immunohistochemical demonstration of T- and B-lymphocytes in athymic homozygous nude mice possessing a known 1-5% of T-lymphocytes. Some of the few lymphocytes in the tyhmus-dependent periarteriolar zone of the spleen white pulp, the paracortex of lymph nodes and interfollicular area of Peyer's patches, were identified as T-lymphocytes. Also, singular T-lymphocytes occur in the thymus-independent marginal zone of the spleen white pulp, cortex and medulla of lymph nodes, as well as the follicular and subepithelial zones of Peyer's patches. These results indicate that the decreased numbers of T-cells in nude mice are found preferably in thymus-dependent regions, and to a smaller degree may recirculate in a similar way as in normal mice.