Intercellular contacts of lymphocytes during migration across high-endothelial venules of lymph nodes. An electron microscopic study.

The migration of lymphocytes across the wall of high-endothelial venules was studied by electron microscopic examination of murine lymph nodes fixed with glutaraldehyde and tannic acid. Regions of close membrane apposition, referred to in the present study as "intercellular contacts," were observed between migrating lymphocytes and endothelial cells of the vessel wall. At high magnification the intercellular contacts resolve into pentalaminar structures resembling gap junctions. However, the location of these contacts suggests that they are regions of membrane adherence utilized for locomotion of the lymphocytes across the endothelium. At present, it is unclear whether these intercellular contacts are communicating junctions or sites of membrane adherence.