Passage of red blood cells through the sinusoidal wall of the spleen.

The migration of blood cells across the wall of splenic sinusoids has been studied by means of serial sections in rats inoculated with murine erythroblastosis virus (MEV). The sinusoidal walls of the normal spleen have no permanent openings. In the normal spleen, mature red blood cells and blood cells in the latest stages of maturation can be seen in diapedesis. The predominant form of transmural migration is intercellular. In MEV-inoculated animals, in which there is a vigorous erythroblastic proliferation, large numbers of erythroblasts are in transmural passage. Serial sections show that these cells migrate through the cytoplasm of the endothelial lining cells. On the basis of these observations, it is suggested that the transcellular mode of migration may be related to the delivery of newly formed red blood cells into the circulation while the intercellular mode may be part of the mechanism by which the spleen controls the removal of red cells from the circulation.