The influence of gut function on lymphoid cell populations in the intestinal mucosa of lambs

The number and type of lymphoid cells in the intestinal mucosa of lambs change during the first weeks after birth. The influence of gut function on these changes was examined by comparing the evolution of lymphoid cell populations in normal ileum with that in lengths of ileum which had been isolated surgically from the functional intestinal tract of the lamb before birth. The isolated lengths of ileum had a normal blood and nerve supply and they remained healthy throughout a period of at least 2 years, although they did not have a normal histological development. In comparison with normal ileum, the villi of the isolated ileal segments were much smaller and there were many fewer intraepithelial lymphocytes; the lamina propria had significantly fewer lymphocytes than the functional ileum and only a few plasma cells. When isolated ileal segments were reconnected into the intestinal tract after having been isolated from it for 1-3 months, the histology of the mucosa reverted to that of the normal gut, with the same number and types of lymphoid cells. Radiolabelled lymphoblasts collected from intestinal lymph and injected intravenously accumulated to only a small extent in isolated segments of ileum compared with either the normal or the reconnected segments of ileum. This suggested that the paucity of lymphocytes in the mucosa of the isolated segments was due to a reduced extravasation of these cells there. The influence which the gut contents exert on the lymphoid cell population in the mucosa is probably associated with antigenic stimulation but may also be related to other factors concerned in the normal digestive functions of the gut.