Evidence of a selective major vascular marginal pool of lymphocytes in the lung.

The size and mobilization of the pulmonary vascular pool of lymphocytes was studied in young pigs. Blood lymphocytes, labeled in vitro with a fluorescent dye, were injected either intravenously or into the left heart. Comparable high numbers of lymphocytes were found in the lung after 30 min, demonstrating a specific homing of lymphocytes to the lung vascular bed. When the left lung was perfused with a cell-free medium for as long as 4 h in vitro, a continuous venous release of lymphocytes was found that resulted in about 1.5 x 10(9) lymphocytes and 5.7 x 10(6)/min leukocytes. Peripheral blood lymphocytes were labeled with 51Cr in vitro and injected intravenously. Fifteen minutes or 1 day later the lungs were perfused, and the release of cell-bound radioactivity was measured. The data indicate the existence of a large intravascular pulmonary lymphocyte pool. The sequestration of lymphocytes in the lung in many lymphocyte migration studies is not a removal of effete cells but a physiologic phenomenon.