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Ontogeny of the gut‐associated lymphoid system in man
Author(s) -
MacDonald Thomas T,
Spencer Jo
Publication year - 1994
Publication title -
acta pædiatrica
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.772
H-Index - 115
eISSN - 1651-2227
pISSN - 0803-5253
DOI - 10.1111/j.1651-2227.1994.tb13219.x
Subject(s) - lamina propria , immunoperoxidase , immune system , pathology , biology , peyer's patch , immunology , cd8 , epithelium , medicine , antibody , monoclonal antibody
Immunoperoxidase histochemistry using monoclonal antibodies to lymphoid/myeloid cells has been used to study the development of the human mucosal immune system in frozen sections of foetal human intestine at different ages. A steady progression of development was seen between 11 and 19 weeks' gestation. At 11 weeks, Peyer's patches were identifiable only as aggregates of strongly HLA‐DR+ cells. By 16 weeks these aggregates became colonized with T and B cells, without distinct cellular zonation. By 19 weeks primary B‐cell follicles were seen and T cells occupied the inter‐follicular zones. There was also a steady increase in the numbers of lamina propria and epithelial T cells between 11 and 19 weeks' gestation. As in postnatal bowel, CD8+ cells predominated in the epithelium and CD4 + cells predominated in the lamina propria. Thus the important T‐ and B‐cell compartments of the mucosal immune system are well established in the human foetal intestine by mid‐gestation.