Light and electron microscopic observations of the spleen in the musk shrew, Suncus murinus.

In the spleen of the musk shrew, a marginal zone was clearly demonstrable between the white pulp and the red pulp. The white pulp was separated from the marginal zone by a septum, a circumferential layer of reticular cells and fibres, and between the marginal zone and red pulp there was a population difference of blood cells. The white pulp consisted of periarterial lymphatic sheaths and lymphoid follicles including germinal centres. The marginal zone was filled by numerous erythrocytes, some lymphocytes, granulocytes and a few macrophages, while the red pulp had a large number of neutrophils, eosinophils, megakaryocytes and their precursors. In the red pulp erythroblasts tended to form islets, and there were a few basophils, plasma cells, plasmablasts and macrophages. Haematopoiesis was also active in the bone marrow.