Rm. Binns et R. Pabst, LYMPHOID-TISSUE STRUCTURE AND LYMPHOCYTE TRAFFICKING IN THE PIG, Veterinary immunology and immunopathology, 43(1-3), 1994, pp. 79-87
The organised lymphoid tissues of the pig, though conventionally mamma
lian in most respects, show several distinctive properties in their st
ructure and physiology. Specialised antigen-presenting lymphoid organs
function at three compartmental levels: the body surfaces, their drai
ning lymph nodes and the spleen in the bloodstream. Other organs act a
s lymphocytic depots and sites of phagocytosis of debris. Pig lymphocy
tes recirculate continuously through these organs and through differen
t forms of inflammatory change, experimentally induced by mitogens and
cytokines, using a spectrum of distinctively different physiological
mechanisms. These tissues in the young pig differ both in the resting
and activated cell subsets and the molecules involved, many of which r
emain to be completely defined. Intriguing insights are evident in the
subtlety of regulation of the specificity, level and foetal ontogeny
of trafficking mechanisms in these different tissues, though they are
as yet poorly explained. This subtle molecular physiology is only now
emerging because appropriate monoclonal antibody reagents are being de
veloped and rigorous attention is being paid to the use of gentle phys
iological methods in experiments in vivo.