Wheeldon E B, Hansen-Flaschen J H
J Leukoc Biol. 1986 Nov;40(5):657-61. doi: 10.1002/jlb.40.5.657.
The presence of a resident population of intravascular macrophages in the sheep lung was investigated. Injection of fluorescent microspheres into the sheep results in uptake by a population of large phagocytic cells scattered within the alveolar capillaries of the lung. By contrast, the rat lung has no uptake of these fluorescent microspheres into the alveolar walls. The cells are large, extremely irregular in shape, often exceed 30 micron in length, and lie within the vascular lumen, apposed to the underlying endothelium. They have several features characteristic of mature macrophages including numerous pseudopodia, a partially preserved cell coat, wormlike bodies ("micropinocytosis vermiformis"), and numerous phagosomes that often contain erythrocytes. Unlike other species such as the rat, in which the mononuclear phagocyte system is distributed primarily in the liver and spleen, the sheep lung has a significant clearance function. Moreover, the presence of these cells in the lung may have important implications for studies of the inflammatory response to pulmonary vascular injury in the sheep.
对绵羊肺中血管内巨噬细胞常驻群体的存在情况进行了研究。向绵羊注射荧光微球后，肺内肺泡毛细血管中散在的一群大吞噬细胞会摄取这些微球。相比之下，大鼠肺的肺泡壁不会摄取这些荧光微球。这些细胞体积大，形状极不规则，长度常超过30微米，位于血管腔内，贴附于下层内皮。它们具有成熟巨噬细胞的若干特征，包括大量伪足、部分保留的细胞被膜、蠕虫样小体（“蠕虫样微胞饮作用”）以及许多常含有红细胞的吞噬体。与大鼠等其他物种不同，大鼠的单核吞噬细胞系统主要分布在肝脏和脾脏，而绵羊肺具有显著的清除功能。此外，这些细胞在肺中的存在可能对绵羊肺血管损伤炎症反应的研究具有重要意义。
