Figure 3.

Failure of transgenic bcl-2 to rescue thymus cellularity in adult γ_c-deficient mice in vivo. To analyze the effect of transgenic bcl-2 expression on thymus cellularity in adult mice, animals of four different genotypes were generated: (A) wild-type mice without (c-kit⁺γ_c ⁺bcl⁻; ○) or with (c-kit⁺γ_c ⁺bcl⁺; •) the transgene, and (B) mice deficient for γ_c without (c-kit⁺γ_c ⁻bcl⁻; □) or with (c-kit⁺γ_c ⁻bcl⁺; ▪) the transgene. Null mutations in c-kit (W/W) are lethal by postnatal day 10 precluding an analysis of adult c-kit–deficient mice. Numbers of mice per group are indicated above each group; below, the mean thymocyte cell number ± 1 SD are shown. Although the range of cell numbers per thymus was very large (over two logs), no differences were observed between bcl-2 transgenic and nontransgenic mice.