ABSTRACT
The effect of hydrocortisone on migration of immune cells to lymph was studied in healthy men. The traffic of cells migrating spontaneously from blood through skin to lymph vessels influenced by local temperature. W. L. Olszewski et al. quantitated in eight volunteers the immune cell traffic through leg skin warmed by immersion of feet in 42 to 44°C water for a period of 2 h and evaluated functional properties of cell harvested from lymph-draining hyperthermic tissues. The responsiveness of cells in lymph to phytohemagglutinin and concanavalin A was high compared to that of blood mononuclear cells. One of the most interesting findings was a high concentration of lymphoid cells in stagnant lymph with the number in two patients approaching the concentration of lymphocytes in blood. The mechanism regulating the passage of lymphocytes through the wall of the small blood capillaries into interstitial tissue fluid and peripheral lymph is certainly different from the mechanism regulating erythrocyte passage to the lymph.
