Lee Hee-Woo, Kim Sung-Min, Shim Na-Ri, Bae Soo-Kyung, Jung Il-Gun, Kwak Jong-Young, Kim Bong-Seon, Kim Jae-Bong, Moon Jeon-Ok, Chung Joo-Seop, Yoon Sik
Department of Anatomy, Pusan National University School of Medicine, Seo-Gu, Busan, South Korea.
Regul Pept. 2007 Jun 7;141(1-3):86-95. doi: 10.1016/j.regpep.2006.12.015. Epub 2007 Jan 10.
Neuroimmune networks in the thymic microenvironment are thought to be involved in the regulation of T cell development. Nerve growth factor (NGF) is increasingly recognized as a potent immunomodulator, promoting "cross-talk" between various types of immune system cells. The present study describes the expression of NGF during thymus regeneration following acute involution induced by cyclophosphamide in the rat. Immunohistochemical stain demonstrated not only the presence of NGF but also its upregulated expression mainly in the subcapsular, paraseptal, and perivascular epithelial cells, and medullary epithelial cells including Hassall's corpuscles in both the normal and regenerating thymus. Biochemical data obtained using Western blot and RT-PCR supported these results and showed that thymic extracts contain NGF protein and mRNA, at higher levels during thymus regeneration. Thus, our results suggest that NGF expressed in these thymic epithelial cells plays a role in the T lymphopoiesis associated with thymus regeneration during recovery from acute thymic involution.
胸腺微环境中的神经免疫网络被认为参与了T细胞发育的调节。神经生长因子（NGF）越来越被认为是一种有效的免疫调节剂，可促进各种类型免疫系统细胞之间的“串扰”。本研究描述了大鼠在环磷酰胺诱导的急性退化后胸腺再生过程中NGF的表达。免疫组织化学染色不仅显示了NGF的存在，还显示了其表达上调，主要在正常和再生胸腺的被膜下、间隔旁和血管周围上皮细胞以及包括哈氏小体在内的髓质上皮细胞中。使用蛋白质免疫印迹法和逆转录聚合酶链反应获得的生化数据支持了这些结果，并表明胸腺提取物含有NGF蛋白和mRNA，在胸腺再生期间水平更高。因此，我们的结果表明，这些胸腺上皮细胞中表达的NGF在急性胸腺退化恢复过程中与胸腺再生相关的T淋巴细胞生成中发挥作用。
