title: Population doublings of murine CD4(+) memory T cells during continuous antigen stimulation in vivo.
abstract: We investigated the expansion rate of CD4(+) memory T cells using a newly developed in vivo system. Neonatal thymectomy abrogates the subsequent production of T cells and induces autoimmune gastritis (AIG) by the activation of CD4(+) T cells; this disease was transferred into athymic nude mice through the inoculation of splenic CD4(+) memory T cells. The transferred CD4(+) T cells increased logarithmically in number during the first 2months in the spleen of the recipients. The serial transfer of these splenocytes at two-month intervals revealed that the numbers of the AIG-transferable generations were inversely correlated with the age of the first AIG donors. The duration of the AIG-promoting capacity of CD4(+) T cells under continuous antigenic stimulation in vivo was approximately equivalent-one and a half years. These results indicate that there exists an intrinsic population doubling limit in memory CD4(+) T cells similar to that of self-renewing naïve ones.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Immunobiology, Department of Life Science, Graduate School of Science and Technology, Niigata University, Niigata, Japan.
authors.forename: Yoshihiro
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Kushida
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Immunobiology, Department of Life Science, Graduate School of Science and Technology, Niigata University, Niigata, Japan.
authors.forename: Jun-ya
authors.initials: JY
authors.lastname: Ishida
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Immunobiology, Department of Life Science, Graduate School of Science and Technology, Niigata University, Niigata, Japan.
authors.forename: Masato
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Fujii
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, Niigata University, Niigata, Japan. Electronic address: tomaki@gs.niigata-u.ac.jp.
authors.forename: Maki
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Touma
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Immunobiology, Department of Life Science, Graduate School of Science and Technology, Niigata University, Niigata, Japan. Electronic address: hosono@gs.niigata-u.ac.jp.
authors.forename: Masamichi
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hosono
mesh_terms: D000375:Aging; D000818:Animals; D000941:Antigens / Q000276:immunology*; D015496:CD4-Positive T-Lymphocytes / Q000166:cytology / Q000276:immunology*; D005260:Female; D007156:Immunologic Memory; D008297:Male; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C; D008819:Mice, Nude; D011948:Receptors, Antigen, T-Cell / Q000276:immunology; D013154:Spleen / Q000276:immunology; D013934:Thymectomy
chemical_list: D000941:Antigens; D011948:Receptors, Antigen, T-Cell
keywords: Autoimmune gastritis; In vivo culture; Memory CD4(+) T cells; Population doublings; Serial transfer