Generation and Characterization of Alloenic Radiation Bone Marrow Chimera

Lee, Ki Young; Kim, Kil Hyoun

Abstract

Allogenic bone marrow chimera has been used to study the differentiation of donor-derived bone marrow cells under the recipient thymic environment, tolerance generaion between recipient and donor cells. We prepared H-2' to H-2 allogenic chimera by transfering bone marrow cells from H-2dmice to r-irradiated H-2k mice, and examined the differentiation ofthe bone marrow cells under allogenic environment. Complete reconstitution with H-2d+ phenotype cells in the thymus of the chimera mice was observed. However, the number of CD4- CD8+ cells dramatically decreased under the recipient thymic environment, CD8+ cells significantly reduced also in spleen and lymph node, compared with that of normal mice. Interestingly, we also observed coexistence of donor-derived cells (H-2k) and recipient derived cells (H-2d) in lymph node and spleen in the chimera. These results suggested that the decrease of CD4-CD8+ cells could be caused by r-irradiation by affecting the recipient thymic environment, and that in this chimera, tolerance between donor-derived cells and recipient-derived cells was maintained.