Structural physiology of the human spleen.

The structural physiology of the human spleen is discussed in depth here, with particular emphasis on the interrelationships between blood cells and the spleen. The unique microvasculature and structural relationships of the spleen form the basis for a number of functions important in both health and disease. Utilizing scanning electron microscopy one can visualize the interactions between blood elements and the spleen---the passage of deformable erythrocytes through narrow slits in the endothelium separating cord and sinus, the trapping of less deformable cells in the cords, the culling and pitting of abnormal or inclusion-bearing erythrocytes by splenic macrophages, as well as the sites of interaction between antigenic stimuli such as pneumococcal organisms and the T and B cells of the spleen.