[The role of thymic microenvironment in T-cell maturation].

The role played by different components of thymic microenvironment in T-cell-maturation is examined: antibodies to a soluble thymic factor (STF) were thus shown to inhibit T-cell maturation in the chicken while incubation of bursal "null" cells with STF could induce the differentiation of some of them into T cells. In addition to STF, whose properties resemble those of other soluble thymic factors, an insoluble thymic factor (ITF) is described: it is localized mainly in membranes associated with medullary blood vessels, and its injection to mice provokes an influx of marrow stem cells into the thymus.