title: CD4+CD8+ thymocytes develop into CD4 or CD8 single-positive cells in athymic nude mice.
abstract: A differentiation pathway from CD4+CD8+ cells to CD4+CD8- or CD4-CD8+ cells was investigated in athymic nude mice. Using fluorescence-activated cell sorter, CD4+CD8+ cells were sorted out from AKR thymocytes (H-2k, Thy-1.1) stained with two monoclonal antibodies against CD4 and CD8 (anti-L3T4 and anti-Ly-2). These CD4+CD8+ AKR thymocytes were injected i.v. into CBA or C3H nude mice (H-2k, Thy-1.2) which had received 650 rads and had been reconstituted with syngeneic nude bone marrow cells. The lymph node cells of the nude recipients at 4 wks post-thymocyte transfer were shown to contain 50% AKR-derived Thy-1.1+ cells. The majority of the Thy-1.1+ cells were found to express either CD4 or CD8 alone but not to express both CD4 and CD8. These findings indicate that CD4+CD8+ thymocytes can develop into CD4+CD8- and CD4-CD8+ single-positive cells in extrathymic tissues.
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology, Kitasato University School of Medicine, Japan.
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Tamauchi
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Tamaoki
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Habu
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000911:Antibodies, Monoclonal; D000945:Antigens, Differentiation, T-Lymphocyte / Q000502:physiology*; D000950:Antigens, Ly / Q000502:physiology*; D016827:CD8 Antigens; D002454:Cell Differentiation; D005434:Flow Cytometry; D051379:Mice; D008819:Mice, Nude; D013601:T-Lymphocytes / Q000145:classification / Q000166:cytology*; D013950:Thymus Gland / Q000166:cytology
chemical_list: D000911:Antibodies, Monoclonal; D000945:Antigens, Differentiation, T-Lymphocyte; D000950:Antigens, Ly; D016827:CD8 Antigens