Cytolytic T lymphocyte precursor cells in congenitally athymic C57BL/6 nu/nu mice: quantitation, enrichment, and specificity.
A sensitive limiting dilution microculture system was used to obtain minimal estimates of the frequency of CTL precursor cells (CTL-P) in spleens from 5- to 14-mo-old C57BL/6 nu/nu mice. Frequency determinations of CTL-P directed against H-2d alloantigens ranged from 1/159,000 to 1/12,400. The relatively low frequency of CTL-P was enriched nearly 10-fold (to 1/2300) by passage of nude spleen cells over a column of nylon wool. After priming nude spleen cells for 7 days in conventional MLC, 1 to 3% of the MLC cells could be operationally identified as CTL-P. Furthermore, the progeny of MLC-primed nude CTL-P were specifically cytolytic for target cells of the strain used for priming. Such a system may be useful for analyzing the specificity repertoires of cells of the T cell lineage that have not undergone thymic influence.
D000375:Aging; D000818:Animals; D002454:Cell Differentiation; D002469:Cell Separation; D003602:Cytotoxicity, Immunologic; D007959:Lymphocyte Culture Test, Mixed; D051379:Mice; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D008808:Mice, Inbred CBA; D008811:Mice, Inbred DBA; D008819:Mice, Nude / Q000276:immunology*; D013154:Spleen / Q000276:immunology; D013601:T-Lymphocytes / Q000166:cytology* / Q000276:immunology