Do B lymphocytes roam around in the bloodstream and or lymphatic system searching for antigens or are they just situated in the lymph nodes?
A. Hmmm.. good question, I probably haven’t made this clear enough. Lymphocytes by definition are cells of the lymphatic system (that is where they form) and primarily reside in the lymphatic tissue (that is where most of them are) but they do travel in the blood as well. That’s why leukocytes are also called white blood cells and lymphocytes are a type of leukocyte. VM Q. Just to clarify… do both B cells and Helper T cells get stimulated after coming into contact with foreign antigens and do B cells try and attach to antigens that are attached to non self cells (could be a pathogen) in the humoral response? A. Yes they do, in a way. But the key point is that Helper Tcells are important in activating a Bcell so that it clones itself and differentiates into plasma and memory cells. I suppose B cells could bind to an antigen that is actually on the surface of a pathogen. However, this won’t destroy the pathogen, nor is it the most important interaction as I have mentioned in the previo
