Rearrangements of T-cell antigen receptor gamma and delta chain genes are detected in the long-term cultured bone marrow cells of athymic nude mice but not in those of euthymic mice.

We have previously shown that extrathymic rearrangements of T-cell receptor (TcR) gamma and delta chain genes occur in the peripheral lymphoid tissues of athymic nude mice. To further determine where the TcR gene rearrangements occur in nude mice, we investigated the rearrangement and expression of the TcR genes in the long-term cultured bone marrow (LTBM) cells which were homogenous in developments without mature T cells as assessed by FACS analysis. The LTBM derived from euthymic mice contained TcR gamma and delta chain genes in germline configuration, while gene rearrangements of both locus were detected in the LTBM cells from nude mice. These results suggested that gamma and delta gene rearrangements do occur in the bone marrow cells of nude mice and that the T-cell precursors in bone marrow may be increased in frequency in such animals.