Mapping the Network

For many of us, the only time we notice our lymph nodes is when we’re ill. For example, the painful lumps you might feel in your neck if you’re suffering from a bad cold are actually swollen lymph nodes packed full of infection-fighting immune cells working overtime to make you well again. These cells are shuttled around through a network of tiny tubes known as conduits. Thanks to advanced microscopy techniques and three-dimensional image reconstruction software, researchers can now map these internal structures in unprecedented detail. These pictures show the blood vessels (green on the left, red on the right) and conduit network (blue) in a single mouse lymph node, created by compiling 280,000 separate image ‘slices’. Now that these networks have been mapped, researchers can create computer simulations that help to explain how cells move through lymph nodes, shedding new light on how the immune system responds to infection.

Written by Kat Arney

Kat Arney

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Dr Kat Arney is an award-winning science writer, broadcaster and public speaker, and is the founder and Creative Director of First Create The Media.

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• Image adapted from work by Inken D. Kelch and colleagues
• Maurice Wilkins Centre for Molecular Biodiscovery, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand
• Images originally published with a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
• Published in PLOS Biology, December 2019