title: The lymphocytes of splenic marginal zones: a distinct B-cell lineage.
abstract: In a recent article on B-cell development Klinman and his colleagues asked the question 'Do B cells exist as separate lineages?'. Studies of B cells in rat spleen support on affirmative answer to this question. Here Ian MacLennan and his colleagues discuss the nature, function and origins of a mayor population of B cells in human and rat spleens which populate the marginal zones, comparing them with recirculating lymphocytes found in the follicles of all secondary lymphoid tissue.
authors.affiliation: Department of Immunology, The Medical School, University of Birmingham, Birmingham B15 2TJ, UK; Experimental Immunology Unit, University of Louvain, Faculty of Medicine, Clos Chapelle-Aux-Champs 30, 1200 Brussels, Belgium.
authors.forename: I C
authors.initials: IC
authors.lastname: MacLennan
authors.affiliation: Department of Immunology, The Medical School, University of Birmingham, Birmingham B15 2TJ, UK; Experimental Immunology Unit, University of Louvain, Faculty of Medicine, Clos Chapelle-Aux-Champs 30, 1200 Brussels, Belgium.
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Gray
authors.affiliation: Department of Immunology, The Medical School, University of Birmingham, Birmingham B15 2TJ, UK; Experimental Immunology Unit, University of Louvain, Faculty of Medicine, Clos Chapelle-Aux-Champs 30, 1200 Brussels, Belgium.
authors.forename: D S
authors.initials: DS
authors.lastname: Kumararatne
authors.affiliation: Department of Immunology, The Medical School, University of Birmingham, Birmingham B15 2TJ, UK; Experimental Immunology Unit, University of Louvain, Faculty of Medicine, Clos Chapelle-Aux-Champs 30, 1200 Brussels, Belgium.
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Bazin