title: Green fluorescent protein-transgenic mice: immune functions and their application to studies of lymphocyte development.
abstract: Green fluorescent protein (GFP) transgenic (GFP+) mice express GFP in most tissues except erythrocytes and hair. Immune responses of GFP+ mouse and their application to studies of lymphocyte development were investigated. Flow cytometric analyses revealed that differentiation patterns of lymphocytes from GFP+ mice are equivalent to those from parental C57BL/6 mice. There was no difference in mature T-cell proliferative ability in response to allogeneic stimulator cells or anti-CD3epsilon stimulation between GFP+ and C57BL/6 mice. Furthermore, the anti-OVA antibody response of GFP+ mice was also the same as that of C57BL/6 mice. Taken together, these results show no immunological differences between GFP+ and C57BL/6 mice. Bone marrow transplantation and in vitro thymus reconstitution experiments were performed in an attempt to apply the GFP+ mice to the analysis of lymphocyte development. When bone marrow cells from GFP+ mice were transplanted. T and B lymphocytes containing GFP developed normally in scid recipients. Next we examined intrathymic T-cell development by hanging drop culture methods. GFP+ and CD4+8+ immature T-cells developed normally from bone marrow cells in the reconstituted thymus. The experimental system using hematopoietic cells from GFP+ mice is a powerful tool for visualizing lymphocyte development.
authors.affiliation: Department of Immunology, Graduate School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Osaka University, Suita, Japan.
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Kawakami
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Sakane
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Nishizawa
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Iwao
authors.forename: S I
authors.initials: SI
authors.lastname: Fukada
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Tsujikawa
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Kohama
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ikawa
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Okabe
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Yamamoto
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001853:Bone Marrow / Q000276:immunology; D017252:CD3 Complex; D049452:Green Fluorescent Proteins; D007107:Immune System / Q000196:embryology*; D008164:Luminescent Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D008214:Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology*; D051379:Mice; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D016513:Mice, SCID; D008822:Mice, Transgenic; D011948:Receptors, Antigen, T-Cell; D013154:Spleen / Q000276:immunology; D013950:Thymus Gland / Q000276:immunology; D018183:Transplantation Chimera
chemical_list: D017252:CD3 Complex; C115335:CD3E protein, human; D008164:Luminescent Proteins; D011948:Receptors, Antigen, T-Cell; D049452:Green Fluorescent Proteins