Natural killer activity in the rat. IV. Distribution of large granular lymphocytes (LGL) following intravenous and intraperitoneal transfer.

Highly enriched populations of rat large granular lymphocytes (LGL) and T lymphocytes were prepared on discontinuous density gradients of Percoll, labeled with either 111In-oxine or 51Cr and injected either intravenously (iv) or intraperitoneally (ip) into normal syngeneic recipients. Following iv inoculation of labeled LGL or T cells into normal recipients, a large proportion of radioactivity (18 to 33%) was recovered within minutes in the lungs. By 2 to 4 hr following transfer, significantly more LGL (13.5%) than T cells (6.4%) remained in the lungs. This difference persisted through 48 hr (5.4 vs 0.8%). Decreasing levels of radioactivity in the lungs were accompanied by corresponding increases in counts in the spleen and liver. At early time points, a significantly higher proportion of T cells was found to distribute to the spleen, while labeled LGL persisted for longer periods in the blood as well as in the lungs. Following ip inoculation into normal recipients, there was a slow clearance of radiolabeled LGL and T cells from the peritoneal cavity, with less than 20% of the radiolabel found in peripheral organs by 24 hr. These results demonstrate a distribution pattern for LGL and T cells that resembles the previously reported proportions of these cells in various organs. In addition, these studies provide a firm basis for the formulation of further experiments to examine the usefulness of adoptive immunotherapy with LGL or immune T cells.