Analysis of the first two waves of thymus homing stem cells and their T cell progeny in chick-quail chimeras

• Type of Material: Article
• Authors: M. Coltey, Institut d'Embryologie Cellulaire et Moléculaire du Centre National de la Recherche Scientique et du College de France; R.P. Bucy, University of Alabama at Birmingham; C.H. Chen, University of Alabama at Birmingham; J. Cihak, University of Munich; U. Lösch, University of Munich; D. Char, University of Alabama at Birmingham; N.M. Le Douarin, Institut d'Embryologie Cellulaire et Moléculaire du Centre National de la Recherche Scientique et du College de France; Max Cooper, Emory University
• Language: English
• Date: 1989-08-01
• Publisher: Rockefeller University Press
• Publication Version: Final Published Version
• Copyright Statement: © Rockefeller University Press.
• Final Published Version (URL): http://dx.doi.org/10.1084/jem.170.2.543
• Title of Journal or Parent Work: Journal of Experimental Medicine
• ISSN: 0022-1007
• Volume: 170
• Issue: 2
• Start Page: 543
• End Page: 557
• Grant/Funding Information: This work was supported by National Institutes of Health grants CA-16673 and CA-13148, and by the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (France).
• Keywords: Research & Experimental Medicine; Immunology; Life Sciences & Biomedicine; Science & Technology
• Research Categories: Health Sciences, Immunology; Biology, Microbiology

Abstract

Chick-quail chimeras were used to study precursor/progeny relationships of hemopoietic stem cells (SC) that enter the embryonic thymus in waves to give rise sequentially to the TCR-1+, TCR-2+, and TCR-3+ lineages of T cells. The first wave of SC and their progeny were examined by grafting thymus from 9-d chick embryos (E9) into E3 quails. mAbs specific for chick T cell antigens were used to trace the development of T cells in the recipients. All three lineages of TCR-bearing cells were generated from the first wave of SC. The cortico-medullary transit time was several day shorter for the TCR-1 subpopulation than for the TCR-2 subpopulation, and the peripheral seeding of TCR-2 cells also occurred later in development. The duration of thymocyte production from the first wave of SC that entered the thymus was ~3 wk, during which gradual cortical to medullary replacement by second wave SC progeny occurred. When the latter was examined, after transplantation of E7 quail thymus into E3 chick embryos, a sequential generation pattern for the TCR-1 and TCR-2 cell progeny was not evident. Finally, recirculation of T cells to the thymus medulla was defined in this avian model.