The Journal of Experimental Medicine
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Published online 3 September 2001. doi:10.1084/jem.194.5.591
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© The Rockefeller University Press, 0022-1007/2001/9/591/ $5.00
The Journal of Experimental Medicine, Volume 194, Number 5, September 3, 2001 591-600

Original Article

T Cell Homeostasis: Thymus Regeneration and Peripheral T Cell Restoration in Mice with a Reduced Fraction of Competent Precursors



Afonso R.M. Almeidaa, José A.M. Borghansa, and António A. Freitasa

a Lymphocyte Population Biology, Unité de Recherche Associée Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique 1961, Institut Pasteur, 75015 Paris, France
Lymphocyte Population Biology Unit, URA CNRS 1961, Institut Pasteur, 25 Rue du Dr. Roux, 75015 Paris, France.33-1-45-68-892133-1-45-68-8552

afreitas{at}pasteur.fr

We developed a novel experimental strategy to study T cell regeneration after bone marrow transplantation. We assessed the fraction of competent precursors required to repopulate the thymus and quantified the relationship between the size of the different T cell compartments during T cell maturation in the thymus. The contribution of the thymus to the establishment and maintenance of the peripheral T cell pools was also quantified. We found that the degree of thymus restoration is determined by the availability of competent precursors and that the number of double-positive thymus cells is not under homeostatic control. In contrast, the sizes of the peripheral CD4 and CD8 T cell pools are largely independent of the number of precursors and of the number of thymus cells. Peripheral "homeostatic" proliferation and increased export and/or survival of recent thymus emigrants compensate for reduced T cell production in the thymus. In spite of these reparatory processes, mice with a reduced number of mature T cells in the thymus have an increased probability of peripheral T cell deficiency, mainly in the naive compartment.

Key Words: CD4 T cells • CD8 T cells • homeostasis • thymus regeneration • thymus export

Abbreviations used in this paper: BM, bone marrow; DN, double negative; DP, double positive; HSC, hematopoietic stem cell precursor; Rag, recombination activating gene; SP, single positive.

© 2001 The Rockefeller University Press


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