Interdigitating cells in the thymus of the frog, Rana temporaria

Interdigitating cells (IDC) of the thymic medulla of the frog, Rana temporaria, collected in the summer, were examined by electron microscopy. The most characteristic cytological features of IDC are voluminous electron-lucent cytoplasm and widespread interdigitations and invaginations of the cell membrane. IDC possess an excentrically located nucleus with pronounced nucleoli and a thin rim of a dense chromatine as well as a perinuclear area with characteristic tubulo-vesicular complex. In our material Birbeck granules were absent. Some IDC contain phagocytized material. A few transitional forms between monocytes and IDC were observed. On the basis of these observations it is highly probable that the amphibian IDC belong to the mononuclear phagocyte system.