The MAdCAM-1 adhesion molecule is involved in lymphocyte homing into mucosal sites and is expressed on high endothelial venules of Peyer's patches and mesenteric lymph nodes. In the spleen, where high endothelial venules are absent, expression can be found on cells in the marginal zone between red and white pulp. By immunohistochemistry and electron microscopy it was demonstrated that in the spleen cells expressing MAdCAM-1 belong to the population of sinus-lining cells and that the expression is restricted to the sinus-lining cells closest to the lymphoid white pulp. Lymphocytes that migrate from the blood into this white pulp area will have to pass through the rim of cells expressing MAdCAM-1. A functional role for MAdCAM-1 or its lymphocyte ligand, the alpha 4 beta 7 integrin complex, was investigated by in vivo short-term homing experiments with anti-MAdCAM-1 and anti-alpha 4 beta 7 antibodies, but no direct role for this receptor-ligand interaction could be demonstrated.