Maturational arrest from CD4+8+ to CD4+8- thymocytes is caused by the bone marrow-derived cells in LEC mutant rats.
LEC rats exhibit a congenital maturational arrest from CD4+8+ to CD4+8- but not to CD4-8+ cells in the thymus. To elucidate a cause of this mutation, bone marrow (BM) chimera rats were made between LEC and normal (WKAH) rats. In (WKAH-->LEC) BM chimera rats, donor-derived T cells matured normally, suggesting that LEC rat thymic stroma has a normal ability in supporting thymocyte differentiation. On the other hand in (LEC-->WKAH) BM chimera rats, LEC rat BM-derived T cells showed the arrest of maturation from CD4+8+ to CD4+8- cells in spite of having normal functions of WKAH rat-derived thymic stroma. In these chimeric rats, even though the maturational arrest from CD4+8+ to CD4+8- cells occurred in the thymus, CD4+ cells were found in peripheral lymph nodes (LNs), suggesting that these CD4+ cells differentiated extrathymically. These results suggest that the maturational arrest from CD4+8+ to CD+8- thymocytes is caused by BM-derived cells but not by thymic stroma.
Sakai
T
T
Institute for Animal Experimentation, University of Tokushima School of Medicine, Japan.
Agui
T
T
Matsumoto
K
K
D000818:Animals; D000911:Antibodies, Monoclonal; D016026:Bone Marrow Transplantation / Q000276:immunology; D015704:CD4 Antigens; D016827:CD8 Antigens; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D005434:Flow Cytometry; D051381:Rats; D011922:Rats, Mutant Strains; D016176:T-Lymphocyte Subsets / Q000276:immunology*; D013950:Thymus Gland / Q000166:cytology; D018183:Transplantation Chimera
D000911:Antibodies, Monoclonal; D015704:CD4 Antigens; D016827:CD8 Antigens