Cellular subsets of the milky spots in the human greater omentum

M Shimotsuma1, T Takahashi, M Kawata

  • 1Department of Surgery, Nishijin Hospital, Kyoto, Japan.

The cellular composition of the human milky spots was investigated on surgically removed specimens of the greater omentum of three 8-month-old infants operated on for neuroblastoma. Monoclonal antibodies and immunohistochemical methods for recognition of macrophages. B-lymphocytes and T-lymphocytes and toluidine-blue staining for mast cells were used. The mean number of cells in one milky spot amounted to 570 +/- 33. This cell population was composed of 47.5% macrophages, 29.1% B-lymphocytes, 11.7% T-lymphocytes and 6.1% mast cells. Since inflammation was absent in the material investigated, the numerical data found in the present paper could be regarded as representative cell levels of normal milky spots.

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