title: Isolation and transplantation of different aged murine thymic grafts.
abstract: The mechanisms that regulate the efficacy of thymic selection remain ill-defined. The method presented here allows in vivo analyses of the development and selection of T cells specific for self and foreign antigens. The approach entails implantation of thymic grafts derived from various aged mice into immunodeficient scid recipients. Over a relatively short period of time the recipients are fully reconstituted with T cells derived from the implanted thymus graft. Only thymocytes seeding the thymus at the time of isolation undergo selection and develop into mature T cells. As such, changes in the nature and specificity of the engrafted T cells as a function of age-dependent thymic events can be assessed. Although technical expertise is required for successful thymic transplantation, this method provides a unique strategy to study in vivo a wide range of pathologies that are due to or a result of aberrant thymic function and/or homeostasis.
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
authors.forename: Y Maurice
authors.initials: YM
authors.lastname: Morillon
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
authors.forename: Fatima
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Manzoor
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
authors.forename: Bo
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; roland_tisch@med.unc.edu.
authors.forename: Roland
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Tisch
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007668:Kidney / Q000601:surgery; D051379:Mice; D013601:T-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology; D013950:Thymus Gland / Q000166:cytology / Q000276:immunology / Q000601:surgery* / Q000637:transplantation*