An immunofluorescence analysis of the ontogeny of myeloid, T, and B lineage cells in mouse hemopoietic tissues.

The population dynamics of granulopoietic cells, B-lineage cells, and T lymphocytes were analyzed by immunofluorescence in mouse hemopoietic tissues as a function of age. Mac-1+ myeloid cells were present on day 11 of gestation in the liver, where they peaked shortly after birth and declined subsequently. Waves of myeloid population growth began in spleen and bone marrow by days 15 and 19, respectively. Mac-1+ cells increased in number to relatively low plateau levels in spleen by the 3rd wk after birth, whereas in the bone marrow higher plateau levels were reached around 3 mo of age. The 14.8 monoclonal antibody was utilized as one marker of B-lineage precursor cells. 14.8+ cells were detected in the liver on day 11 of gestation, reached peak numbers during the first week after birth and decreased thereafter. On day 15 and 19, 14.8+ cells were found in spleen and bone marrow, respectively, and progressively increased in numbers to reach plateau levels in both sites by 3 mo of age. Mu+ pre-B cells appeared in significant numbers in the 13-day fetal liver, reached a peak shortly after birth, and disappeared from the liver by the end of the second postnatal week. Pre-B cells were found in the spleen and bone marrow on days 15 and 19, respectively. In the spleen pre-B cells reached peak values at birth and disappeared 2 wk later. In spite of the sequential appearance of mu+ pre-B cells in fetal liver, spleen, and bone marrow, their sIgM+ B cell progeny appeared in all these hemopoietic tissues on day 17 of gestation. In the liver, sIgM+ B cells reached their peak at birth and declined thereafter. In the spleen and bone marrow, B cells increased to plateau levels between 1 and 4 mo of age. Thy-1.2+ T cells were relatively late acquisitions in all three hemopoietic tissues. Finally, the expression of the 14.8 antigen by mu+ cells was examined as a function of gestational age. While pre-B cells from day-13 fetuses had no detectable 14.8 antigen, the antigen was weakly expressed on the vast majority of the mu+ pre-B cells by day 17 of gestation. Newborn liver cells expressing 14.8 antigen were found to include a small proportion of cells with peroxidase+ granules. Thus, demonstration of rearrangement and expression of immunoglobulin genes may be required for precise identification of cells of B lineage early in ontogeny.