Mathematical model accurately predicts the hierarchy of recirculation of thoracic duct lymphocytes (TDLs) between major murine organs.

<p>Cr-labeled TDLs were passaged via an intermediate host and then were transferred into syngenic rats (<a href="http://www.ploscompbiol.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pcbi.1003586#pcbi-1003586-g001" target="_blank">Figure 1A</a>). The percent of transferred cells was measured at different times after cell transfer in major lymphoid and nonlymphoid murine organs and is shown by markers. We fit the mathematical model of lymphocyte recirculation (eqn. (1) – (6)) to these experimental data using nonlinear least squares; model fits are shown as lines. Plots are for the first 30 minutes of the experiment (A) or for the whole experiment (B, abscissa values are plotted on the log-scale). Parameter estimates of the model are given in <a href="http://www.ploscompbiol.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pcbi.1003586#pcbi-1003586-t001" target="_blank">Table 1</a>. Different y-scales in panels A and B were used for clarity.