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Ultrastructural study on the follicle-associated epithelium of nasal-associated lymphoid tissue in specific pathogen-free (SPF) and conventional environment-adapted (SPF-CV) rats

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 April 2000

KWANG IL JEONG ,
HODAKA SUZUKI ,
HIROYUKI NAKAYAMA  and
KUNIO DOI
KWANG IL JEONG
Affiliation:
Department of Veterinary Pathology, Graduate School of Agricultural and Life Sciences, The University of Tokyo, Japan
HODAKA SUZUKI
Affiliation:
Department of Veterinary Pathology, Graduate School of Agricultural and Life Sciences, The University of Tokyo, Japan
HIROYUKI NAKAYAMA
Affiliation:
Department of Veterinary Pathology, Graduate School of Agricultural and Life Sciences, The University of Tokyo, Japan
KUNIO DOI
Affiliation:
Department of Veterinary Pathology, Graduate School of Agricultural and Life Sciences, The University of Tokyo, Japan
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Abstract

Membranous (M) cells in follicle-associated epithelium (FAE) play an important role in the mucosal immunity through transport of a variety of foreign antigens to the underlying mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue (MALT). We aimed to investigate the ultrastructure of M cells in the FAE covering nasal-associated lymphoid tissue (NALT) both in specific pathogen-free (SPF) rats and in conventional environment-adapted (SPF-CV) rats aged 8–38 wk. In NALT of both SPF and SPF-CV rats, FAE included the nonciliated microvillous cell, which appears to be an analogue of M cell previously described in other MALT. In SPF rats, M cells increased in number only slightly with age, and they maintained morphological uniformity irrespective of age. In SPF-CV rats, M cells selectively increased in number resulting in prominent expansion of FAE surface area in parallel with the duration of maintenance in a conventional environment. In addition, M cells in SPF-CV rats showed heterogeneity in their surface morphology such as the length and number of microvilli and cell surface area and outline. In addition, the FAE was stratified by various subtypes of M cells, which were characterised by several subcellular alterations including the presence of many keratin filaments, homogeneous dark bodies and extensive cytoplasmic interfoliation with wide intercellular spaces filled with amorphous proteinaceous material. These characteristics of M cells in SPF-CV rat were intimately related with a preferential influx of immunocompetent cells into the FAE, which was not seen or was very rare in SPF rats irrespective of age. The results suggest the possibility that NALT may effectively carry out the mucosal immune response against antigenic stimuli of different magnitude through the unique dynamics of M cells which seem to be influenced by the infiltration of immunocompetent cells.

Keywords

NALTM cellsstructural heterogeneityimmune surveillance
Type
Research Article
Information
The Journal of Anatomy , Volume 196 , Issue 3 , April 2000 , pp. 443 - 451
Copyright
© Anatomical Society of Great Britain and Ireland 2000

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