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Lymphocytes

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Encyclopedia of Immunotoxicology

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Definition

Lymphocytes are a subclass of leukocytes (white blood cells) that have round nuclei (earning them the designation “mononuclear cells”) and typically lack cytoplasmic granules (making them “agranulocytes”). Two lymphocyte types, T cells and B cells, are the key lymphocytes that control the adaptive immune response, which develops as a reaction to a prior antigenic stimulus. Additional lymphocyte kinds – large granular lymphocytes (LGL cells) and natural killer (NK) cells – are lymphocytes that function in the early, antigen-independent, innate immune response.

Characteristics

Lymphocyte Categories

In general, lymphocytes can be classified by either lineage (Fig. 1) or function.

Fig. 1
figure 1

All leukocyte (white blood cell) lineages are derived from partially committed (oligopotent) common progenitor cells that arose from uncommitted (pluripotent) hematopoietic stem cells. The common progenitor cells undergo further differentiation into various classes of lymphocytes (leftside of...

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. WIL Research – Pathology, Ashland, OH, USA

    Tracey Papenfuss

  2. The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA

    Brad Bolon

Authors
  1. Tracey Papenfuss
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  2. Brad Bolon
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Tracey Papenfuss .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Pharmaforschungszentrum, Bayer Health Care AG, Wuppertal, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany

    Hans-Werner Vohr

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© 2014 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Papenfuss, T., Bolon, B. (2014). Lymphocytes. In: Vohr, HW. (eds) Encyclopedia of Immunotoxicology. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-27786-3_925-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-27786-3_925-2

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  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-27786-3

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