The effects of antigen on the migration of recirculating lymphocytes through single lymph nodes.

The increased input of RL into LN starts within 3 h after antigenic stimulation and is due to an increase in the number of RL passing through a LN. It is not associated with an altered transit time through a LN of the majority of RL and it cannot occur in the absence of high endothelial PCV. The immediate decrease in the output of RL from an antigen-stimulated LN is due to a delay in the exit from that LN of RL which had entered the LN before antigen was given. The decrease in cell output from a LN after antigen administration affects blast cells produced within the LN as well as small lymphocytes and is not specific for RL. There are at least two distinct mechanisms controlling the migration of RL through an antigen-stimulated LN. The first controls the increased input of RL which occurs only through high endothelial PCV. The second controls the immediate decrease in cell output, which although it does not occur at the level of the high endothelial PCV, can only occur in organized lymphoid tissue. The increased input of RL into an antigen-stimulated LN and the decreased cell output from the LN can occur independently and are possibly controlled by different mechanisms.