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Thymocyte emigration in the chicken: an over‐representation of CD4 + cells over CD8 + in the periphery
Author(s) -
KATEVUO K.,
VAINIO O.
Publication year - 1996
Publication title -
immunology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.297
H-Index - 133
eISSN - 1365-2567
pISSN - 0019-2805
DOI - 10.1046/j.1365-2567.1996.d01-764.x
Subject(s) - thymocyte , cd8 , fluorescein isothiocyanate , biology , spleen , microbiology and biotechnology , peripheral blood , andrology , isothiocyanate , endocrinology , immunology , medicine , immune system , biochemistry , fluorescence , physics , quantum mechanics
We have examined the emigration of chicken thymocytes after intrathymic fluorescein isothiocyanate (FITC) labelling in situ. In this paper we show that in young birds about 0.7% and 0.4% of thymocytes emigrate from the thymus to the blood and the spleen, respectively, per day. This suggests that, as in mammals, most thymocytes die within the thymus. At 3 weeks of age γδ and αβ T cells leave the thymus in comparable levels to their appearance in the blood. The phenotype of recent emigrants in peripheral tissues is similar to that of mature T cells. Interestingly, recent emigrants contain relatively much higher numbers of CD4 + and fewer CD8 + cells than is observed in peripheral tissues in a steady‐state situation.