THE LONG‐TERM COLLECTION OF LYMPH FROM SINGLE LYMPH NODES OF FOETAL LAMBS IN UTERO

Abstract

Summary. Surgical techniques are described for ihe long-term collection of lymph from hoih prescapular efft-reni lymph ducts of focial lambs in utero. Lymph duels iti t'oeial lambs 95 lo 136 days posi-concepiion were cannulated wilh a high rate of success. Lymph flow from [he cannulas was not compromised by deliberate primary or secondary challenge of the lymph nodes with a wide variety of antigens, and often continued for long periods afler the lambs were born naturally. The techniques allow cellular and humoral lymph-borne immune responses ol' foeial lambs lo auihentic primary atitigcnic challenge to be studied //(iiteri>, uncomplicated by any previous e>;perience of antigens. Loss of lymphocyios from the cannulated duels depleted the numbers of cells in the lymph, but lymph prolein conccniraiions were unaffected by lymph drainage.

Bede Morris: a perspective from an early PhD candidate

“…Although he published extensively in many international journals, he contributed to the Australian Journal of Experimental Biology and Medical Science 1–27 (now Immunology & Cell Biology 28 ) over almost the whole of his scientific career, and clearly regarded this as a key forum for the promulgation of his work on the role lymphatics in the whole animal.…”

The Ontogeny and Comportment of Lymphoid Cells in Fetal and Neonatal Sheep

“…The fetal sheep in utero, however, can be exploited to study authentic primary interactions between a specified antigen and the immune apparatus because its syndesmochorial placentadon sustains it in an andgen-free, agammaglobulinemic state throughout gestation. Simpson-Morgan et al (1985) and Hugh et al (1985) have published the results of the first experiments done to study the effects of antigen on the traffic of lymphocytes through single lymph nodes of fetal sheep. The introduction of Brucella organisms into the prescapular node was followed by an immediate reduction in the cell output from the node for a period of several hours followed by an increase in both the total and large cell output over the next few days.…”