Reassortment of lymphocytes in lymph from normal and allografted sheep.

The distribution and nature of surface immunoglobulin-bearing (SIg) cells were studied in various sources of lymph from normal sheep and from sheep bearing renal autografts and renal allografts. In normal sheep, 12.2% +/- 1.5 of all mononuclear cells in peripheral lymph SIg and, of these, more than 50% were monocytes and macrophages. Less than 6% of the lymphocytes in peripheral lymph carried SIg. In contrast, 24.7% +/- 1.3 of the mononuclear cells in central lymph had SIg, and all of the labeled cells were lymphocytes. The frequencies of SIg cells in peripheral lymph issuing from renal autografts and from renal allografts were 6.7% +/- 1.3 and 6.9% +/- 0.8, respectively, and the labeled cells were predominantly lymphocytes. The proportion of SIg cells in central lymph from graft-bearing sheep was similar to that from normal sheep. The differences between central lymph and peripheral lymph from both normal and graft-bearing sheep are thought to reflect a restriction on the passage of SIg cells through capillary endothelium in nonlymphoid tissues.