Electron-microscopic study of the development of the periarteriolar zone in splenic white pulp of rats

To obtain more information concerning the origin of interdigitating cells, the postnatal development and morphology of the periarteriolar lymphatic sheath in splenic white pulp of rats was investigated by light- and electron-microscopy. Special attention was paid to the ontogeny of interdigitating cells. The spleens of the animals were studied in the age range from 1 h to 28 days after birth. The splenic white pulp of neonatal rats consists only of a few reticuloblasts, which are concentrically arranged around central arterioles. After 21 h an increase in promonocytes and monocytes was noted. Between the fifth and seventh postnatal day monocytogenic cells with a light and almost translucent cytoplasm appear, which display long cytoplasmic projections between the adjacent cells. Neighbouring lymphocytes often insert finger-like processes into the invaginated cellular membrane of these transitional forms. This intimate cellular contact is supported by zonulae occludentes. These cells represent transitional forms between monocytes and interdigitating cells. From seven days of age onwards typical interdigitating cells were present as in adult animals. After the differentiation into an inner and outer periarteriolar lymphatic sheath, the T-cell-dependent area of splenic white pulp has attained its adult appearance and further changes are not to be expected. On the basis of these findings, it is highly probable that interdigitating cells develop via transformation of monocytes.