Splenic white pulp
Pulpa alba (noduli lymphoidei splenici)
Lymphatic & immuneLymphaticsAbdomenLeft side
- What it is
- Millimetre-sized whitish nodules (Malpighian corpuscles) scattered through the red pulp: sheaths of T lymphocytes around the central arterioles, with B-cell follicles attached to them.
- Function
- Mounts antibody responses against antigens carried in the blood; the spleen holds about a quarter of the body's lymphocytes.
- Size
- Each nodule 0.5-1 mm; together 20-25 % of the spleen
- Clinical note
- Visible to the naked eye as pale specks on the cut surface; the nodules enlarge dramatically in glandular fever (infectious mononucleosis) and in lymphoma.