White pulp

White pulp
Transverse section of a portion of the spleen. (Lymphatic nodule labeled at center right.)
Spleen
Details
Precursor	mesoderm
Artery	trabecular artery
Vein	trabecular vein
Latin	noduli lymphoidei splenici
Dorlands /Elsevier	n_09/12576042
Anatomical terminology []

White pulp is a histological region of the spleen. The altered coat of the arterioles, consisting of adenoid tissue, presents here and there thickenings of a spheroidal shape, the white pulp (Malpighian bodies of the spleen, splenic lymphoid nodules).

These bodies vary in size from about 0.25 mm. to 1 mm. in diameter.

They are merely local expansions or hyperplasia of the adenoid tissue, of which the external coat of the smaller arteries of the spleen is formed.

They are most frequently found surrounding the arteriole, which thus seems to tunnel them, but occasionally they grow from one side of the vessel only, and present the appearance of a sessile bud growing from the arterial wall.

There are several parts of white pulp with distinct functions:

This article incorporates text in the public domain from the 20th edition of Gray's Anatomy (1918)