A Contribution Concerning the Unsettled Problem of Intrasplenic Microcirculation

From morphological studies it is well known that the vascular bed of the spleen consists of at least two different compartments. Figure one schematically shows how the splenic microcirculation can be subdivided. One compartment corresponds to the white pulp (pathways number 1 and 2), the other compartment to the red pulp, for which the existance of either an open or a closed type of terminal vascular bed is discussed. Futhermore there are references that the microcirculation in the red pulp is not homogeneous but composed of both types, as illustrated by the pathways marked by number 3 and 4.