Marinova Tsvetana Ts, Spassov Lyubomir D, Vlassov Veselin I, Pashev Vili V, Markova Maya D, Ganev Varban S, Dzhupanova Ralitsa S, Angelov Doychin N
Department of Biology, Medical Genetics and Microbiology, Medical Faculty, Sofia University St. Kliment Ohridski, Bulgaria.
Anat Rec (Hoboken). 2009 Jul;292(7):960-5. doi: 10.1002/ar.20920.
Although Hassall's corpuscles have been proposed to act in both maturation of developing thymocytes and removal of apoptotic cells, their function remains an enigma. The involvement of insulin-like growth factor I (IGF-I) in the local autocrine and paracrine control of T-cell development in human thymus is still unclear. In this study, we investigated the structure and distribution of IGF-I and IGF-I receptor (IGF-IR)-immunopositive Hassall's corpuscles in aged human thymus using bright-field immunohistochemistry and immunoelectron microscopy. We report new immunocytochemical data for the presence of IGF-I/IGF-IR double-immunopositive Hassall's corpuscles in structurally preserved regions of age-involuted thymus and discuss the involvement of these unique thymic components in the local regulation of T-cell development and thymus plasticity during aging by IGF-I/IGF-IR-mediated cell signaling pathway.
尽管有人提出哈氏小体在发育中的胸腺细胞成熟和凋亡细胞清除中均发挥作用，但其功能仍是个谜。胰岛素样生长因子I（IGF-I）在人类胸腺T细胞发育的局部自分泌和旁分泌控制中的作用仍不清楚。在本研究中，我们使用明场免疫组织化学和免疫电子显微镜研究了老年人类胸腺中IGF-I和IGF-I受体（IGF-IR）免疫阳性的哈氏小体的结构和分布。我们报告了在年龄相关萎缩胸腺结构保存区域中存在IGF-I/IGF-IR双免疫阳性哈氏小体的新免疫细胞化学数据，并讨论了这些独特胸腺成分通过IGF-I/IGF-IR介导的细胞信号通路在衰老过程中对T细胞发育和胸腺可塑性的局部调节中的作用。
