Blood vasculature of the lymph node in the dog: anatomical evidence for participation of extrahilar arterial vessels in the blood supply of the cortex.

Abstract

The organization of the arterial vessels of dog lymph nodes (LN) was studied using methods of visualization of the vasculature by systemic injection of different tracers (colloidal carbon, Micropaque resin and methylmethacrylate) followed by observation of the samples by light microscopy (after clearing of the thick sections of LN) or scanning electron microscopy (corrosion casts). LN from all of the three groups of nodes studied (tracheobronchial, paratracheal and popliteal) showed an extensive network of arterial vessels encircling the capsule of the organ. We found that branches of these capsular arteries penetrated deeply into the cortical domain of LN. The capsule-originating vessels appeared to have a significant participation in the blood supply of the LN parenchyma at the cortical domains of the organs. Our findings are in contrast with current views on the angiology of the LN that consider that virtually all of the arterial capillaries of the LN parenchyma come from hilar arteries. We propose, therefore, that important segments of the LN cortex receive their blood supply from capsular arteries rather than from hilar vessels.