Electron microscopic study on Langerhans cells and related cells in lymph nodes of DNCB-sensitive mice.

To understand contact hypersensitivity, it is important to know the kinetics of Langerhans cells (LC) and related cells in the lymph node (LN), as well as in the skin. For this purpose, we tried experimentally to induce increased numbers of LCs, Birbeck granule-like structure (BgS)-containing cells, and interdigitating reticulum cells (IDC) in DNCB-sensitive mice and studied them by means of electron microscopy with the following results: (1) cytologically, LC, BgS-containing cells and IDC were closely related; (2) BgS seemed to arise from rough-surfaced endoplasmic reticulum (r-ER), and BgS-containing cells were midway in nature between LC and IDC from the morphological view point. From these findings, it appears that IDC, BgS-containing cells, and LCs were simultaneously involved in the contact hypersensitivity reactions of LNs.