Presence of murine fetal liver cells capable of being induced to differentiate in vitro into T cell receptor-positive cells.
Mouse fetal liver cells were analyzed for the surface expression of T cell markers. Fetal liver cells prepared from mouse embryos at 14.5 days of gestation contained a small number of CD4+ cells (1.4%), but virtually no cells positive for any other T cell markers such as CD8, CD3 and T cell receptor (TcR). When a fetal liver cell suspension prepared from BALB/c(male) x AKR(female) F1 embryos at 14.5 days of gestation was cultured in medium supplemented with culture supernatants of both WEHI-3 and concanavalin A-stimulated rat spleen cells, TcR alpha beta+ and CD4+ cells were generated, whereas CD8+ and TcR gamma delta+ cells were hardly detectable. Most of TcR alpha beta+ and CD4+ cells were H-2d+, thus clearly showing their fetal origin. Treatment with anti-CD4, anti-CD3 or anti-TcR alpha beta antibodies plus complement or electronic sorting to remove cells expressing these markers failed to inhibit the generation of T cell marker-positive cells following culture in vitro. On the other hand, depletion of Thy-1.2+ cells reduced their generation. These findings indicate the presence of some progenitor T cells in fetal liver with the Thy-1+, CD3-, CD4-, CD8-, TcR- phenotype, which can be induced to differentiate into TcR alpha beta+ cells in the presence of specific humoral supplements without the influence of the thymus.
Shimamura
M
M
Laboratory of Molecular Immunology, Mitsubishi Kasei Institute of Life Sciences, Tokyo, Japan.
Oku
M
M
Yamagata
T
T
D000818:Animals; D015704:CD4 Antigens / Q000032:analysis; D002454:Cell Differentiation; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D005260:Female; D005333:Fetus / Q000276:immunology*; D006412:Hematopoietic Stem Cells / Q000502:physiology*; D008099:Liver / Q000276:immunology*; D051379:Mice; D008806:Mice, Inbred AKR; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D010641:Phenotype; D011247:Pregnancy; D016693:Receptors, Antigen, T-Cell, alpha-beta / Q000032:analysis*; D013601:T-Lymphocytes / Q000502:physiology*
D015704:CD4 Antigens; D016693:Receptors, Antigen, T-Cell, alpha-beta