Thymic nurse cells: morphological study during their isolation from murine thymus |
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Authors: | Dominique Toussaint-Demylle Jean-Marie Scheiff Stanislas Haumont |
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Affiliation: | (1) Laboratory of Histology, Medical School, University of Louvain, Brussels, Belgium;(2) Laboratory of Histology, University of Louvain, Avenue Em. Mounier, 52, B-1200 Brussels, Belgium |
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Abstract: | Summary Thymic nurse cells (TNC), which are multicellular complexes composed of epithelial cells and thymocytes, were obtained from C3H-mice thymuses. They were described by means of light and electron microscopy. The morphology of epithelial cells forming isolated TNC compared to that of small tissue fragments obtained by enzymatic digestion revealed that TNC could be derived from all parts of the thymus: cortex, corticomedullary junction and medulla, the cortex being their principal source. This variety of origin, the presence of several epithelial cells inside a single TNC, the presence of non-lymphoid cells, and the various locations of eleaved desmosomes confirmed that their aspect in vitro as round and sealed structures can be considered to be an artifact due to the isolation technique used. Indeed, during this procedure, they are formed by a process of wrapping of the epithelial cytoplasm around the tightly associated thymocytes. All three epithelial cell types: cortical reticular cells, medullary reticular cells, and medullary globular cells can form TNC.A portion of this work was presented at the first Thymus Workshop. Rolduc, Netherlands, April, 1988 |
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Keywords: | Thymic nurse cells Epithelial cells Thymus Light- and electron microscopy Mouse C3H |
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