Fig. 2: The stromal network stretches upon lymph node swelling.
From: Multitier mechanics control stromal adaptations in the swelling lymph node
a, Representative T-zone, follicles and lymphatic compartment volumes as identified by CD3ε, B220 and LYVE-1 staining, respectively, from cleared and 3D LSFM-imaged entire popliteal LNs at homeostasis (day 0) and inflammation (days 4 and 14), visualized together and separately for the T-zone. Indentations of follicles into the underlying T-zone can be observed at all time points. Scale bar, 500 µm. b–d, Quantification of absolute and fractional volumes of T-zone (b; n = 10, 10 and 8), follicles (c; n = 10, 10 and 8) and lymphatics (d; n = 10, 10 and 8). e, Representative images of TRC networks gap analysis in homeostasis (day 0) and inflammation (days 2, 4, 8 and 14). f, Averaged and smoothed distribution of the TRC network fitted circle distributions plotted as the weighted area fraction as a function of the fitted circle diameter as measured in e (n = 28, 26, 31, 31 and 32). g, Quantification of the mean fitted circle diameter as in f (n = 28, 26, 31, 31 and 32). Data from b–d are shown as the mean ± s.e.m. and g as the mean only. Datapoints in b–d represent independent measurements of single popliteal LNs and in g represent the average of 10–30 analyzed consecutive optical sections of an acquired deep T-zone volume. All statistical analysis was performed using one-way ANOVA. All experiments were repeated independently (≥5 lymph nodes from ≥3 mice and ≥2 experiments) and data from f and g were pooled for each time point. For statistical details, see Supplementary Table 1. NS, not significant. *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01, ***P < 0.001, ****P < 0.0001.
