Secondary Lymphoid Organs

Various types of organized lymphoid tissues are located along the vessels of the lymphatic system. Some lymphoid tissue in the lung and lamina propria of the intestinal wall consists of diffuse collections of lymphocytes and macrophages. Other lymphoid tissue is organized into structures called lymphoid follicles, which consist of aggregates of lymphoid and nonlymphoid cells surrounded by a network of draining lymphatic capillaries. Until it is activated by antigen, a lymphoid follicle – called a primary follicle – comprises a network of follicular dendritic cells and small resting B cells. After an antigenic challenge, a primary follicle becomes a larger secondary follicle – a ring of concentrically packed B lymphocytes surrounding a center (the germinal center) in which one finds a focus of proliferating B lymphocytes and an area that contains nondividing B cells, and some helper T cells interspersed with macrophages and follicular dendritic cells.

Most antigen-activated B cells divide and differentiate into antibody-producing plasma cells in lymphoid follicles, but only a few B cells in the antigen-activated population find their way into germinal centers. Those that do undergo one or more rounds of cell division, during which the genes that encode their antibodies mutate at an unusually high rate. Following the period of division and mutation, there is a rigorous selection process in which more than 90% of these B cells die by apoptosis. In general, those B cells producing antibodies that bind antigen more strongly have a much better chance of surviving than do their weaker companions. The small number of B cells that survive the germinal center’s rigorous selection differentiate into plasma cells or memory cells and emerge.

Lymph nodesand the spleenare the most highly organized of the secondary lymphoid organs; they comprise not only lymphoid follicles, but additional distinct regions of T-cell and B-cell activity, and they are surrounded by a fibrous capsule. Less-organized lymphoid tissue, collectively called mucosal-associated lymphoid tissue (MALT), is found in various body sites. MALT includes Peyer’s patches (in the small intestine), the tonsils, and the appendix, as well as numerous lymphoid follicles within the lamina propria of the intestines and in the mucous membranes lining the upper airways, bronchi, and genital tract.

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