Peritoneal B-cell development depends on strain, radiation, and time.
OBJECTIVE
B-1a, B-1b, and B-2 cells represent the three B-cell subsets in mice. Previous studies have demonstrated that peritoneal B-1a cell development is absent, or nearly so, from adult bone marrow transfers into irradiated adult hosts. The majority of these studies have been performed under a limited set of conditions with irradiated host mice. Here we examined that under a variety of conditions, peritoneal B-1a cells can develop in significant numbers from adult bone marrow transfers into severe combined immunodeficient (SCID) and recombination activation gene 2(-) (RAG-2(-)) mice.


METHODS
Adult bone marrow was transferred into various strains of irradiated and nonirradiated adult immunodeficient RAG-2(-) and SCID mice. Peritoneal B-cell engraftment was examined by fluorescein-activated cell sorting analysis and unpaired t-tests were used to determine significant differences of B-cell engraftment among the various conditions of cell transfer.


RESULTS
The level of B-1a cell engraftment was variously affected by the type of host immunodeficiency, the combination of donor and host strains, and the time allowed for engraftment. Irradiation of SCID, but not RAG-2(-), host mice inhibited B-1a-cell engraftment. Additionally, decreasing the number of bone marrow progenitor cells transferred was not found to preferentially affect B-1a cell development in irradiated RAG-2(-) hosts.


CONCLUSIONS
In the context of these strains, we conclude that adult murine bone marrow contains progenitors that have the capacity to reconstitute peritoneal B-1a cell populations to donor levels.
Stickler
M
M
Department of Immunology, Genencor International Inc., Palo Alto, CA 94304, USA. mstickler@genencor.com
Harding
F
F
D000818:Animals; D016175:B-Lymphocyte Subsets; D001402:B-Lymphocytes / Q000166:cytology*; D016026:Bone Marrow Transplantation; D002452:Cell Count; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins / Q000172:deficiency / Q000235:genetics; D051379:Mice; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D016513:Mice, SCID; D010537:Peritoneum / Q000166:cytology* / Q000528:radiation effects*; D013045:Species Specificity; D013601:T-Lymphocytes; D013997:Time Factors; D019172:Transplantation Conditioning
D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins; C499308:Rag2 protein, mouse; C064655:V(D)J recombination activating protein 2