Twomey J J, Luchi R J, Kouttab N M
J Clin Invest. 1982 Jul;70(1):201-4. doi: 10.1172/jci110594.
The null cell compartments of human bone marrow and mouse spleen were arbitrarily divided into three subpopulations based upon the ability of cells to acquire T or B cell membrane markers when incubated with poly A:U or ubiquitin. There was an accumulation of T cell precursors with congenital absence of the thymus. In contrast, T cell precursors were reduced and there was an accumulation of uninduced null cells with old age. These observations suggest that there is an intrinsic defect of null cell differentiation with a drift towards more differentiated precursors in T cell differentiation with aging. This could result in a diminution in the range of responses by their progeny, mature T lymphocytes.
根据细胞在与多聚A:U或泛素孵育时获得T或B细胞膜标志物的能力，将人骨髓和小鼠脾脏的空细胞区室任意分为三个亚群。先天性无胸腺的个体中存在T细胞前体的积累。相反，随着年龄增长，T细胞前体减少，未诱导的空细胞积累。这些观察结果表明，随着年龄增长，空细胞分化存在内在缺陷，在T细胞分化中倾向于向更分化的前体漂移。这可能导致其后代成熟T淋巴细胞的反应范围缩小。
