Cells and immunoglobulins in lymph.

Studies of the free-floating lymphocytes and of the immunoglobulins in lymph collected over long periods of time from ducts draining individual tissues of the body as well as from the thoracic duct of the fetus in utero have been reviewed. The findings show that stimuli within the internal milieu act on different classes of lymphocytes to alter their migration pattern, morphology, metabolic activity, and range of immunological potentialities. As the lymphoid cells migrate between the blood, tissue fluid, and lymph, a continual process of reassortment occurs leading to the establishment of heterogeneous lymphoid cell populations in different regions of the lymphatic apparatus. It seems that the biological activities of these cells are not decided only in terms of a thymus or a bone-marrow origin. The immunoglobulins, like other proteins in lymph, are mainly derived by filtration from the circulating plasma. Some of the immunoglobulins and specific antibodies are synthesized, however, by lymphoid cells and secreted directly into the lymph.