Functional characterization of human thymocyte subpopulations separated by density gradient centrifugation.

A bovine serum albumin gradient was used to separate two populations of human thymocytes--a minority population (8%) of large thymocytes (LT) and a majority population (92%) of small thymocytes (ST). Fifty per cent of LT cells were in the S, G2 or M phases of the cell cycle compared to 5% of ST cells and 15% of unfractionated thymocytes. LT cells proliferated in response to T cell mitogens and included all of the T colony precursor cells (TCPC). In contrast, ST cells proliferated with mitogens only in the presence of added T cell growth factors and contained none of the thymocyte TCPC. ST cells neither helped nor suppressed the function of LT cells in any assay. This separation technique has provided a rapid method for isolating functionally distinct thymic lymphocyte subpopulations and permitted a further definition of the TCPC in the human thymus. Furthermore it should prove useful in studies of thymocytes at different stages of the cell cycle.