Modelling of peripheral lymphocyte migration: system identification approach

This is the first application of the prediction error method (PEM) of system identification to modelling lymphocyte migration through peripheral lymphoid tissue. The PEM was applied to the emergence of labelled lymphocytes from the efferent lymphatic of a lymph node following their intravenous administration. Advantages of PEM included the capacity to calculate the response to a unit impulse stimulus, unavailable to direct observation, and to allow for the return to the node of labelled cells that had already recirculated once. Calculation of the system delay (time between introduction of cells into the blood and their first appearance in lymph) indicated 4.67 ± 1.05 h for the total lymphocyte population. The peak in efferent lymph occurred at 11.91 ± 4.68 h, much earlier than previous reports, which were affected by cells that had already recirculated. While 75% of labelled cells had emerged in efferent lymph by 20.77 ± 5.62 h, 86.38 ± 29.44 h was required for 100% emergence. The considerable heterogeneity in migratory behaviour is likely to reflect frequency and duration of binding of lymphocytes by dendritic cells in paracortical cord corridors. It is proposed that differences in the speed with which lymphocytes pass along corridors depend on their functional status, in particular whether they are naive or memory cells.