FIGURE 5. T cell development in T cell-specific RASA1-deficient HY TCR Tg mice.

All experiments were performed with thymi of littermate rasa1^fl/fl and rasa1^fl/fl plck-cre HY TCR Tg mice. (A) Representative Western blots showing RASA1 expression in whole thymi of female and male HY TCR Tg mice. (B) Representative plots of CD4 and CD8 expression (top left) and bar chart (top right) showing mean number + 1 SEM of HY TCR+ (T3.70hi) DN, DP, CD4 SP and CD8 SP cells in thymi of female mice (rasa1^fl/fl, n=12; rasa1^fl/fl plck-cre, n=16). Bar graphs below show mean ratios + 1 SEM of thymocyte subsets within genotypes. (C) Representative histograms of annexin V staining upon the indicated HY TCR+ thymocyte subpopulations in thymi of female rasa1^fl/fl (filled histograms) and rasa1^fl/fl plck-cre (open histograms) HY TCR Tg mice (see Fig. 3 and Methods). The same results were obtained in three repeat experiments. (D) Representative plots of CD4 versus CD8 expression upon HY TCR+ thymocytes in male thymi are shown at left. Bar charts depict mean number + 1 SEM of total HY TCR+ cells (middle) and indicated HY TCR+ thymocyte subsets (right) in male thymi (rasa1^fl/fl, n=6; rasa1^fl/fl plck-cre, n=5). Comparisons with total numbers of HY TCR+ cells in female mice are shown (rasa1^fl/fl, n=12; rasa1^fl/fl plck-cre, n=16) (middle panel). Statistical significance was determined using the Student’s two-sample t-test.