In vivo tracking of T cell development, ablation, and engraftment in transgenic zebrafish

Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2004 May 11;101(19):7369-74. doi: 10.1073/pnas.0402248101. Epub 2004 May 3.

Abstract

Transgenic zebrafish that express GFP under control of the T cell-specific tyrosine kinase (lck) promoter were used to analyze critical aspects of the immune system, including patterns of T cell development and T cell homing after transplant. GFP-labeled T cells could be ablated in larvae by either irradiation or dexamethasone added to the water, illustrating that T cells have evolutionarily conserved responses to chemical and radiation ablation. In transplant experiments, thymocytes from lck-GFP fish repopulated the thymus of irradiated wild-type fish only transiently, suggesting that the thymus contains only short-term thymic repopulating cells. By contrast, whole kidney marrow permanently reconstituted the T lymphoid compartment of irradiated wild-type fish, suggesting that long-term thymic repopulating cells reside in the kidney.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, P.H.S.

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Animals, Genetically Modified / immunology*
  • Dexamethasone / pharmacology
  • Immunohistochemistry
  • In Situ Hybridization
  • Molecular Sequence Data
  • Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction
  • T-Lymphocytes / drug effects
  • T-Lymphocytes / immunology*
  • Zebrafish / immunology*

Substances

  • Dexamethasone

Associated data

  • GENBANK/AY390224