Duijvestijn A M, Hoefsmit E C
Cell Tissue Res. 1981;218(2):279-92. doi: 10.1007/BF00210344.
The ultrastructure of the micro-environment of the fully functional rat thymus was studied. The thymus consists of two discrete compartments, viz., an epithelial and a mesenchymal compartment. Thymus fibroblasts/fibrocytes, mast cells and granulocytes, are restricted to the mesenchymal compartment. The thymocyte maturation process seems to occur in the epithelial compartment in a network of reticular epithelial cells. The cortex is finely meshed and filled with proliferating thymocytes and some scattered macrophages. Moreover, in the medulla vacuolated epithelial cells from part of a loosely meshed reticulum which is filled with thymocytes and interdigitating cells (IDCs). IDCs frequently contain Birbeck granules and appear to be phagocytic. Together with macrophages, they probably enter the thymus, predominantly in the cortico-medullary region, and cross the separating wall between the two compartments. Some functional aspects of the non-lymphoid cells and in particular the IDCs, which form the micro-environment of the thymus, are discussed with respect to T-cell development.
对功能完备的大鼠胸腺微环境的超微结构进行了研究。胸腺由两个独立的部分组成，即上皮部分和间充质部分。胸腺成纤维细胞/纤维细胞、肥大细胞和粒细胞局限于间充质部分。胸腺细胞的成熟过程似乎发生在上皮部分由网状上皮细胞构成的网络中。皮质呈细网状，充满增殖的胸腺细胞和一些散在的巨噬细胞。此外，在髓质中，空泡化的上皮细胞形成了一个疏松网状结构的一部分，其中充满了胸腺细胞和交错突细胞（IDC）。IDC经常含有伯贝克颗粒，似乎具有吞噬作用。它们与巨噬细胞一起，可能主要在皮质-髓质区域进入胸腺，并穿过两个部分之间的分隔壁。就T细胞发育而言，讨论了构成胸腺微环境的非淋巴细胞特别是IDC的一些功能方面。
