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Lymph node medulla
Make it clearer
The lymph node is organized into zones, and the medulla is the deepest one: the last stretch traveled by lymph, the fluid that drains from the tissues, before it leaves the node through the efferent vessels, the ones that carry the filtered lymph out.
The medulla has two elements that alternate. On the one hand are the medullary cords, bands of tissue packed with plasma cells, the body's antibody factories, which get there after developing from the B lymphocytes of the cortex, the outer zone of the node. On the other are the medullary sinuses, the spaces through which lymph flows between those cords.
The image is a canal about to empty out, with workshops on the bank pouring their product into the passing water. The workshops are the plasma cells, the product is the specific antibodies they make against whatever the node has just encountered, and the passing water is the lymph in the sinuses, which carries them away as it leaves.
In brief
The medulla is the deep zone of the lymph node, the last one lymph travels through before leaving by the efferent lymphatic vessels.
It is organized into medullary cords, which hold plasma cells derived from the B lymphocytes of the cortex, and medullary sinuses, through which lymph flows.
Those plasma cells make specific antibodies and release them into the lymph inside the medullary sinuses.
The final stretch of a canal, with workshops on the bank tipping their product into the water.
Sources (1)
- National Center for Biotechnology Information, StatPearls PublishingAnatomy, Lymph Nodes, StatPearlsPublished
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