Ah. Saad, ULTRASTRUCTURE OF PHAGOCYTIC-CELLS IN THE SPLEEN OF PSAMMOPHIS SIBILANS (SERPENTES-COLUBRIDAE), Journal of morphology, 222(3), 1994, pp. 231-240
The spleen of Psammophis sibilans is composed mainly of red pulp, the
white pulp being poorly developed. The white pulp lymphoid clusters ar
e scattered throughout the organ and contain lymphocytes, reticular ce
lls, and some plasma cells. The red pulp consists of reticular cells i
ntermingled with blood cells, sinusoids, and melanomacrophage centers
(MMCs). Filtering of particulate matter from the blood occurs in the r
ed pulp by phagocytes of the pulp cord. MMCs are formed by the associa
tion of free macrophages that have phagocytosed some blood cells. Earl
y filtering of particulate matter by the phagocytes of the pulp cords
may allow for more efficient phagocytosis of erythrocytes by the MMCs.
(C) 1994 Wiley-Liss, Inc.