Figure 3.

Selective impairment of T cell-dependent responses in Tespa1-deficient chimeras. Chimeric mice reconstituted with mixed bone marrow suspensions were generated as described in Section “Materials and Methods.” (A) Peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) of chimeric mice examined by FACS to identify the origin of the reconstituted lymphocytes. In chimeric mice, 100% of the B cells originate from CD45.1⁺CD45.2⁺ donors, whereas more than 90% of the T cell populations originate from CD45.1⁻CD45.2⁺ μMT mice. (B) Percentages of T and B cells in PBMCs of Tespa1-deficient and wild-type (WT) chimeras. (C) NP-specific serum Ig levels in Tespa1-deficient and WT chimeras at different time points after immunization (on day 0) with NP-KLH, NP-LPS, or NP-Ficoll. (D) (Left) Splenocytes from Tespa1-deficient or WT chimeras immunized with NP-KLH were stained with anti-B220, anti-Fas (CD95), and anti-GL-7 antibodies. Cells were gated on the B220⁺ population. (Right) Immunohistochemical staining with peanut agglutinin (brown) of spleens from control and Tespa1-deficient chimeras collected on day 21 after immunization. Scale bar, 1,000 µm. Summarized data shows the mean ± SEM from three separate experiments (n = 10 mice per group), *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01.