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Correspondence to: Jochen Düllmann, Institut für Anatomie, Universitäts-Krankenhaus Eppendorf, Martinistr. 52, D 20246 Hamburg, Germany.
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Summary |
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The subcompartmentalization of the white pulp in the spleen is the result of interactions of specific resident stromal cells and migrating subtypes of lymphocytes. Because carbohydrate residues of cell membranes and extracellular matrices are involved in cellcell and cellmatrix interactions, they were investigated in rat spleen by a broad panel of lectins. Splenic macrophages, which were also demonstrated by Perls' Prussian blue reaction, were labeled selectively by most mannose-specific lectins and gave the characteristic distribution patterns in all splenic (sub)compartments. One recently isolated lectin, Chelidonium majus agglutinin (CMA), visualized predominantly central arterioles, the reticular meshwork (RM) in the periarteriolar lymphatic sheaths (PALS), the circumferential reticulum cells limiting PALS and follicles, and some follicular dendritic cells (FDCs) in white pulp. The endothelial cells of venous sinuses in red pulp were also labeled by CMA and, if frozen sections were used, CMA also labeled the macrophages of the red pulp. Compared to CMA, the monoclonal antibody CD11, which can be used only in frozen sections, stained almost solely the fibrous (extracellular) component of the RM. Because CMA stains the reticulum cells in particular, it is better suited to visualize the stromal architecture of splenic white pulp than the monoclonal antibody. Because CMA can be applied to paraffin-embedded material, it is a particularly useful tool to study the splenic stromal architecture in archival material. (J Histochem Cytochem 48:923931, 2000)
Key Words: spleen, stromal architecture, follicular dendritic cells, macrophages, lectins
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Introduction |
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The spleen is an immune organ interposed in the general circulation. Its major components are the red and white pulp, in which the immune cells are concentrated. It is subcompartmentalized in such a way that B- and T-lymphocytes, together with their immune accessory cells, are localized in defined areas. In the lymphoid follicles, B-cells mature and proliferate under antigenic stimulation (
This functional subcompartmentalization of the splenic white pulp has been visualized by the use of monoclonal antibodies (MAbs) specific to various cell types: to T- and B-cells, their immune accessory elements, such as follicular dendritic cells (FDCs, B area-specific) or interdigitating dendritic cells (T area-specific), to the reticular cells, and to the extracellular matrix produced by them (
In addition to MAbs, some cells of the immune system have been characterized by lectins (
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Materials and Methods |
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Five male and female Wistar rats weighing 300400 g were kept on a diet of Altromin 1314 (Altromin; Lage, Germany) which was supplemented with 200220 mg Fe/kg. After sacrifice, the spleens were removed, cut into 1-mm slices, fixed in 4% paraformaldehyde buffered by 0.1 M phosphate buffer (pH 7.4), and routinely processed to paraffin. Sections were cut at 4 µm, deparaffinized in xylene, and hydrated through a series of graded alcohols. After incubation in Tris-buffered saline (TBS) containing 50 mM Tris, 150 mM NaCl, 1 mM MgCl2, 1 mM CaCl2, and HCl adjusted to pH 7.6, the sections were treated with 0.1% trypsin (Sigma; St Louis, MO) for 15 min at 37C. Sections were again transferred to TBS, washed three times, and then incubated with the biotinylated lectins at a concentration of 10 µg ml-1. All lectins were in-house preparations isolated according to previously described procedures (
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Cryostat sections (6 µm) were also cut, air-dried for 30 min, fixed in acetone for 10 min, and air-dried again. These sections were used for CMA staining and incubation with the MAb ED11, followed by a biotinylated anti-mouse antibody.
After a further wash in TBS, all sections incubated with the lectins or the biotinylated secondary antibody were treated with a biotinstreptavidinalkaline phosphatase complex (Vectastain; Vector, Burlingame, CA), followed by a wash in TBS. Naphthol-AS-biphosphate was used as a substrate and hexatozized New Fuchsin was used for simultaneous coupling. Control sections were incubated the same way, omitting lectins or the primary antibody. Endogenous alkaline phosphatase activity in the frozen sections was blocked by levamisole. In the case of CMA, inhibition experiments using N,N',N''-triacetyl-chitotriose (Sigma) were carried out. CMA (10 µg ml-1) was incubated with chitotriose in concentrations of 25, 50, 75 and 100 mM for up to 24 hr. Counterstaining, when done, and mounting were performed by Mayers' hemalaun and in an aqueous medium, respectively.
In addition, the fibrous reticulum of the spleen was demonstrated by silver impregnation according to the Gomori method and storage iron was stained by Perls' Prussian blue reaction. Some of the silver-impregnated slides were used for additional CMA staining. Acid phosphatase was demonstrated according to the method of
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Results |
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Of the 16 lectins used, eight (i.e., UDA, BDA, IRA, CAA, GNA, AMA, LOA, HHA, and SNA-I) showed significant lectin binding to cells and one (CMA) also to extracellular matrix. The following lectins did not react or reacted only very weakly with a few mostly undiscernible cells: APA, DBA, SBA, ACA, and ASA. SNA-II stained only some granulocytes in the cords of red pulp.
CMA Binding in White Pulp
The reaction pattern of CMA in this splenic compartment in the paraformaldehyde-fixed, paraffin-embedded material showed no significant differences from that obtained from frozen sections. It consisted of strongly labeled endothelial and adventitial connective tissue cells of trabecular arteries and veins, central arteries, and arterioles, the RM of PALS, and scattered or groups of rounded cells in the MZ (Fig 2 Fig 3 Fig 4 and Fig 6), which could be identified as macrophages by additional markers used. Even the smallest forming primary and secondary follicles were readily discernible in such preparations (Fig 1 and Fig 2). Although reticular structures in the interior were moderately stained, they were quite sharply delineated against the MZ by the CMA reactivity of the circumferential reticulum cells which are adjacent to the inner surface of the marginal sinus (Fig 2 Fig 3 Fig 4 and Fig 6). Follicles were either eccentrically connected with the PALS (Fig 1 Fig 2 Fig 3 and Fig 6) or they were partially tied off and had their own demarcation against the MZ (Fig 4). Some of the more strongly labeled cells in primary follicles and germinal centers of secondary follicles in the paraffin-embedded material exhibited a dendritic morphology, thus indicating the presence of FDCs (Fig 2). The binding of CMA in white pulp was slightly diminished by preincubation with the trisaccharide chitotriose.
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The RM within PALS visualized by CMA was much more prominent than the (classical) reticulum stained by silver impregnation or PAS reaction. CMA staining applied after silver impregnation suggests that the lectin is labeling reticular cells ensheathing reticular fibers that are impregnated by the silver salt (Fig 5).
CMA Binding in Red Pulp
CMA binding in this splenic compartment was dependent on the histological technique used. In both paraffin and frozen sections, the endothelial cells of venous sinuses in peripheral MZ and red pulp (Fig 1 Fig 2 Fig 3 Fig 4, Fig 6, and Fig 7) were very intensely labeled by CMA, but the reticulum of red pulp remained unstained. This binding pattern of CMA was completely inhibited by chitotriose. In frozen sections, the scattered macrophages of red pulp were intensely labeled by CMA (Fig 6).
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ED11 Reactivity in the Spleen
The MAb ED11 labeled an RM within PALS that was more delicate and less continuous than that obtained by CMA binding (Fig 7a and Fig 7b). The walls of the central arteries and arterioles, but not the endothelia, showed ED11 immunoreactivity. In the center of secondary follicles, web-like staining was present. The MZ and the red pulp remained unstained, but the splenic capsule and trabeculae were intensely labeled.
Lectin Binding of Splenic Macrophages
Most of the lectins with mannose specificity, such as GNA, AMA, LOA, and HHA, as well as the sialic acid-specific SNA-I and the GlcNAc-specific UDA, labeled splenic macrophages. Macrophages were present in three typical locations: (a) accumulated within the splenic cords of red pulp in large numbers; (b) scattered in the MZ, PALS, and lymphatic follicles, and (c) interfaced as an open ring between the PALS and follicles on one side and the MZ on the other (Fig 8). The scattered labeled cells in germinal centers of secondary follicles were typical "starry-sky" macrophages. In frozen sections, the macrophages of red pulp could be demonstrated by CMA binding (Fig 6).
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Iron Staining of Splenic Macrophages
Because most of the CMA-positive macrophages in the splenic red pulp contained a yellow-brown pigment, which partially reacted with the macrophage-specific lectins, Perls' Prussian blue reaction was also used to visualize this special macrophage population. The cordal macrophages of the red pulp were very intensely iron-positive. The staining pattern ranged from a diffuse blue coloration of the cytoplasm to darker blue granules and polymorphous clumps that corresponded to the yellow-brown pigment of iron in unstained sections. Iron-positive macrophages were also found in the white pulp. These had fewer and smaller or no granules at all but contained iron, which was diffusely distributed throughout the cytoplasm. They were loosely scattered in the MZ, PALS, and follicles, but in the spleen of one animal formed an almost complete continuous band demarcating white pulp from the MZ (Fig 9).
Lectin Binding of Lymphocytes
Some of the lectins (i.e., BDA, IRA, AMA, LOA, HHA, CAA, and SNA-I) were diffusely and fine granularly reactive with large numbers of lymphocytes in the MZ and, to a lesser degree, with lymphocytes of the PALS and the follicles (BDA, CAA, SNA-I) marking these splenic compartments in their entirety. Therefore, these lectins indiscriminantly stained most if not all lymphocytes. In addition, centroblasts or centrocytes were never marked distinctively.
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Discussion |
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Thus far, most knowledge of the histophysiology of the spleen has been derived from immunohistology with MAbs specific for immune cells, immune accessory cells, reticular cells, and macrophages. In the present study, carbohydrate determinants in the splenic red and white pulp were visualized by lectin binding. The results obtained with a recently discovered lectin, CMA, were particularly striking. CMA selectively outlined endothelial cells of central arteries/arterioles, an RM in the white pulp, and the lining cells of venous sinuses in the red pulp. In frozen sections, the macrophages of red pulp were also labeled by CMA binding.
The CMA-labeled reticulum was restricted to inner and outer PALS, including follicles. In the PALS, this reticulum was much more prominent than the (classical) reticulum stained by silver impregnation, PAS reaction, or labeling with MAb ED11. Silver impregnation and the PAS reaction label only components of the extracellular matrix such as glycoproteins of reticular fibers via their negative charges and their neutral carbohydrate content, respectively, and stain an extracellular reticulum in both the white and the red pulp. MAb ED11 coincides almost solely with the location of reticular fibers in PALS, follicles, trabeculae, and the capsule of the spleen, and stains FDCs (
CMA is therefore very useful for overall structural analysis of the splenic white pulp by identifying all structures including early-forming primary follicles. This lectin might be of broader use than only in rat because it stained human spleen in a similar manner (unpublished observation). CMA binding was of moderate intensity in the internal reticulum of the follicles but was stronger in the circumferential reticular cells limiting the follicles against the MZ. When individual cells were labeled by CMA within follicles they had the typical dendritic shape of FDCs. At least in part, these FDCs appear to derive directly from local reticular cells when follicles are formed (Fig 2). These data corroborate earlier findings because transitions between both cell types had previously been revealed by electron microscopy in the native state (
The staining patterns of CMA and MAb ED 11 in the splenic white pulp are differ not only in the structures they label (reticular cells and/or fibers) but also with respect to the determinants they recognize. These determinants must be different because the antibody failed to stain endothelial cells of central arteries/arterioles and sinuses in splenic red pulp that are intensively CMA-reactive.
Rat MAbs have revealed a remarkable heterogeneity of splenic white pulp RM in mice, and it has therefore been proposed that this heterogeneity reflects different functions, including maintenance of the compartment structure of the lymphoid organ and the segregated homing of T- and B-lymphocytes (
Guidance of lymphocyte migration through the spleen may be functionally related to the determinants that are recognized by CMA. Recirculating B- and T-lymphocytes enter the spleen via the MZ and use anatomically determined pathways (
GNA was previously described to label tingible body macrophages in the germinal centers of human Peyer's patches (
Lectin binding and iron staining of macrophages demonstrated the abundance of macrophages in the cords of red pulp. The diffuse stainable iron of the cytoplasm and the polymorphous granular iron deposits in the macrophages correspond to free ferritin molecules of the cytosol and to ferritin- and hemosiderin-containing lysosomes, which are called siderosomes (
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Acknowledgments |
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We wish to thank Prof Christine D. Dijkstra (Free University of Amsterdam) for the kind gift of the monoclonal antibody CD11.
Received for publication January 26, 2000; accepted March 1, 2000.
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