| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||
|
DG Stickney, J Wang, M Hamad and JR Klein
Mervin Bovaird Center for Studies in Molecular Biology and Biotechnology,
University of Tulsa, OK.
Using a system of bone marrow (BM) hematopoietic repopulation of irradiated
euthymic and athymic mice, we have examined the early stages of extrathymic
T-cell development within the murine small intestine epithelium. During a
period of active extrathymic T-cell development, two distinct populations
of intraepithelial lymphocytes (IEL) were present. One consisted of CD3+
lymphocytes with phenotypic properties of mature IEL. The other population
consisted of a transient IEL subset that increased in abundance between
days 5 and 14 post-BM transfer, and then declined. The majority of
transient IEL in both types of mice expressed the heat-stable antigen, of
which some cells coexpressed CD3 but were void of other markers common to
mature T cells. Studies using freshly extracted IEL from normal
nonirradiated mice found that approximately 3% to 5% of the IEL had
phenotypic properties similar to the transient IEL observed during
repopulation of radiation chimeras, indicating that such IEL are present
within the gut epithelium of normal, nonirradiated mice. Identification of
this IEL subset should greatly facilitate studies of extrathymic IEL
development.
This article has been cited by other articles:
| |||||||||||
| Copyright © 1994 by American Society of Hematology Online ISSN: 1528-0020 | |||||||||