Lymphoreticular organs

The cells that make up the immune system are distributed throughout the body but are found mainly in the lymphoreticular organs, which may be divided into the primary lymphoid organs, i.e. the thymus and bone marrow, and the secondary or peripheral... 

Glatzel M, Heppner FL, Albers KM, Aguzzi A (2001) Sympathetic innervation of lymphoreticular organs is rate limiting for prion neuroinvasion. Neuron 31 25-34. 

In oral studies on 2-butoxyethanol in animals, effects on lymphoreticular organs consisted of increased spleen weight in pregnant rats at 100 mg/kg/day during gestation (NTP 1989), in young and adult rats at... 

Since the effects on the spleen and bone marrow are secondary to the hemolytic effects of 2-butoxy-ethanol, and since a number of studies performed histological examination of lymphoreticular organs, additional studies on lymphoreticular effects do not appear to be useful. However, the potential for immunotoxicity of 2-butoxyethanol has not been sufficiently studied. A battery of immunotoxicity tests conducted by all routes, but particularly by the inhalation and dermal routes (the most relevant routes for humans) would help to determine whether 2-butoxyethanol is immunotoxic. 

Patients with T cell deficiency have much more serious susceptibility to infection than patients with complete or partial B cell defects. In its most severe forms, T cell deficiency results in an inability to terminate opportunistic infections with organisms that are ordinarily innocuous. Consequently, varicella, vaccinia, and herpes and measles viruses can be fatal infections. The enterobacilli are commonly invasive in patients with T cell defects and infection with Monilia is almost universal. Malignancy of both the lymphoreticular organs and other viscera is also a common complication of the T cell disorders. 

Immunological and Lymphoreticular Effects. Occupational exposures to inhaled formaldehyde, phenol and isomers of organic chlorohydrocarbons from Ksylamit which is a widely used liquid wood preservative, were associated with immunological effects such as decreased levels of CD4, suppressed mitogen-induced lymphocyte proliferation, and significantly decreased natural killer cell cytotoxicity. However, it should be noted that in the report Ksylamit is indicated to consist of a mixture of chlorinated benzenes, pentachlorophenol, alpha-chloronaphthalene, chloroparaffin and kerosene and that the authors provide no discussion of how phenol and formaldehyde are produced through the use of such a mixture (Baj et al. 1994). 

To help public health professionals address the needs of persons living or working near hazardous waste sites, the information in this section is organized first by route of exposure-inhalation, oral, and dermal-and then by health effect-death, systemic, immunological and lymphoreticular, neurological, reproductive, developmental, genotoxic, and carcinogenic effects. These data are discussed in terms of three exposure periods-acute (14 days or less), intermediate (15-364 days), and chronic (365 days or more). 

Immunotoxicity. There are currently no in vivo studies in humans or animals that examined immunocompetence following exposure to DEHP by any route of exposure. No histopathological alterations to organs of the lymphoreticular system due to treatment with DEHP were reported by any animal study. DEHP does bind to mononuclear leukocytes in vitro (Sager and Little 1989) but this is not an inherently toxic phenomenon. The overall evidence suggests that the immune system is not a target for DEHP toxicity. Specific studies addressing this issue do not seem necessary at this time. 

Organic Mercury. No studies were located regarding immunological and lymphoreticular effects in humans or animals after inhalation exposure to organic mercury. 

The LOAEL value for immunological and lymphoreticular effects in mice for intermediate-duration oral exposure to organic mercury is recorded in Table 2-3 and plotted in Figure 2-3. 

Ataxia telangiectasia is characterized by severe abnormalities in various organ systems and a high incidence of lymphoreticular cancer. Defective DNA repair was suspected when patients developed an unexpected severe or fatal reaction while undergoing radiotherapy for cancer. 

Sjogren syndrome (SS) is characterized by infiltration of CD4-positive lymphocytes into different organs, most notably the lacrimal and salivary glands. In the lung, the disease manifests as a prominent lymphoreticular infiltration in the tracheobronchial tree with follicular bronchiolitis, atrophy of glands, and fibrosis... 

---