Hiramine C, Hojo K, Koseto M, Itoh M
Department of Immunology and Immunopathology, Kagawa Medical School, Japan.
Thymus. 1989;14(4):213-21.
The authors recently demonstrated that cyclosporine (CsA) treatment of mice caused a remarkable reduction of L3T4+Lyt-2- subset in the thymocytes as well as the striking decrease in the size and cellularity of the thymic medulla. To elucidate the underlying mechanism of such thymic alterations, an immunohistochemical study on the thymic epithelial cells was made in mice receiving CsA. In the medulla, a marked reduction of Ia-positive, keratin positive and Ulex europeus agglutinin 1 (UEA 1) binding epithelial cells was observed. CsA also induced a reduction of anti-keratin stainability of cortical epithelial cells and of Ia antigen expression by them. The results of this study indicate that CsA is not only directly impair thymocyte function but also may act on epithelial cells in the thymus. It is suggestive that CsA may affect T cell differentiation and maturation via alteration of Ia-positive thymic epithelial cells.
作者最近证明，用环孢素（CsA）处理小鼠会导致胸腺细胞中L3T4 + Lyt-2-亚群显著减少，以及胸腺髓质的大小和细胞数量显著下降。为了阐明这种胸腺改变的潜在机制，对接受CsA的小鼠的胸腺上皮细胞进行了免疫组织化学研究。在髓质中，观察到Ia阳性、角蛋白阳性和欧洲荆豆凝集素1（UEA 1）结合的上皮细胞显著减少。CsA还导致皮质上皮细胞的抗角蛋白染色性降低以及它们的Ia抗原表达减少。这项研究的结果表明，CsA不仅直接损害胸腺细胞功能，而且可能作用于胸腺中的上皮细胞。这提示CsA可能通过改变Ia阳性胸腺上皮细胞来影响T细胞的分化和成熟。
