Figure 2. Differential AIRE and TSA expression in normal and castrated mouse thymuses and sorted mTECs.

Aire mRNA expression in male and female mouse thymuses, 6 to 8 weeks old, in 3 different mouse strains (C57BL/6, SJL, and C3H) n = 5–6 thymuses for each sex and strain. (A). Number of AIRE⁺ cells per mm² of thymic sections (B), number of AIRE⁺ cells per mm² of thymic medulla (C), and percentage of cells expressing the AIRE protein in K14⁺ in the thymic medullary area (D) of SJL mice aged of 6 to 8 weeks old by sex (n = 4–6 thymuses for each sex). mRNA expression of Aire (E), Chrna1 and thyroglobulin (thryog), 2 AIRE-dependent TSAs (F), and Gad67, an AIRE-independent TSA (G), in sorted mTECs from 6-week-old male and female C57BL/6 mice (n > 4 thymuses per sex). Thymic mRNA levels of Aire, Chrna1, and thyroglobulin (H), number of AIRE-expressing cells per thymic section (I), and percentage of cells expressing the AIRE protein among K14⁺ cells in the thymic medullary area (J) of control and castrated SJL male mice (n = 4–6 thymuses per group). Aire mRNA levels were normalized to K5. P values were obtained using the nonparametric Mann-Whitney U test. For H, P values were obtained using the 1-way ANOVA test. *P < 0.05; **P < 0.01; ***P < 0.001.