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Erythrocyte Filtration by the Popliteal Lymph Node in the Dog¹

Department of Radiology, Division of Radiotherapy, State University of New York Downstate Medical Center, Brooklyn, New York 11203

Thirty-two isolated popliteal lymph node preparations were made in dogs by cannulating both an afferent and efferent lymphatic. The mechanism and efficiency of lymph node filtration was studied by perfusion of ⁵¹Cr-tagged erythrocytes in quantities ranging from 10⁶ to 10¹⁰. The histologic findings pertaining to the filtered erythrocytes in the excised nodes were classified into two categories. The first was biologic, in which phagocytosis and other evidences of reticuloendothelial function were evident, while the second was mechanical, in which there was simply sedimentation of erythrocytes in the lymph sinuses. The relative importance of biologic and mechanical filtration was correlated with the filtration efficiency at different doses of injected erythrocytes.

The lymph node behaves as an effective filter for small quantities of intralymphatically injected red blood cells. However, with larger quantities of injected red blood cells, filtration efficiency decreases from nearly 100% to 20%. With small quantities of injected red blood cells, phagocytosis is of prime importance in filtration, while with larger quantities mechanical filtration predominates.

¹ Supported by USPHS Grant CA 06972-RAD.

Received 7/ 8/66. Accepted 7/11/67.