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Morphologic and Antigenic Maturation of Lymphocytes in the Mouse Thymus In Vitro
Author(s) -
JUHLIN R.,
ALM G. V.
Publication year - 1976
Publication title -
scandinavian journal of immunology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.934
H-Index - 88
eISSN - 1365-3083
pISSN - 0300-9475
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-3083.1976.tb00304.x
Subject(s) - antigen , biology , in vitro , embryo , immunology , microbiology and biotechnology , cytotoxicity , organ culture , lymphocyte , t lymphocyte , biochemistry
A simple technique for organ culture of the thymus of 14‐day‐old mouse embryos is described. It allowed a characteristic time‐dependent development of the immature thymus into a lymphoid thymus with large numbers of nondividing small lymphocytes. Most of these cells carried the T‐lymphocyte antigenic markers Thy‐1 and TL, and all expressed H‐2 antigens as determined in cytotoxicity assays. They probably developed from precursor cells without detectable Thy‐1 and TL. This development appeared to be dependent on the thymic microenvironment, since it also occurred in serum‐free organ cultures and in cultures with medium supplemented with serum from nude mice.