The present study is carried out on twenty healthy adult rabbits of different sexes up to 2.5 year of age
and weighted from 2.5-3.5 kg. Ten rabbits are used for gross anatomical studies of the position and
dimensions of lymph nodes. Other ten adult rabbits are used for the histological study. The rabbit
thoracic limb has axillary lymphocenter which includes the proper and accessory axillary lymph nodes
and the pelvic limb has the popliteal lymphocenter which comprises the superficial popliteal lymph
node. The proper axillary lymph nodes are one to two nodes (one large and one small). They are situated
in the axillary space. The accessory axillary lymph node is single node lies on each side subcutaneously
in the axilla caudal to the shoulder joint. The superficial popliteal lymph node is single lymph node. It
is located subcutaneously between M. biceps femoris and M. semitendinosus and dorsal to the lateral
head of M. gastrocnemius. The structure of the lymph nodes is similar. They are surrounded by
capsule that sends trabeculae that divides the nodes into several lobes. The subcapsular sinuses
are very narrow and lack in some areas of the nodes. The cortex shows well-defined nodules
(primary and secondary) which are located at the periphery of the node. The medulla is
characterized by the presence of medullary cords with medullary sinuses. The cords consist of
lymphocytes, macrophages, Reticular cells, plasma cells and occasional neutrophils |
