Effect of FK506 on cell-surface antigen expression in porcine thymocytes / 中华器官移植杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To investigate the effect of FK506 on cell-surface antigen expression in porcine thymocytes.Methods After FK506 administration at a dose of 1 mg./kg body weight intramuscularly for 21 days the pigs were sacrificed and the thymus were removed.Cells isolated from the thymus were stained for two-color flow cytometric analysis in two-steps:(1)incubation with a combination of monoclonal antibodies,and(2)staining with isotype-specific conjugates(FITC/PE).Results There was a significant decrease of T-lymphocytes(SWC1+SWC3-)from 90.25% to 44.50% and an increase of the SWC￣/SWC3￣population from 3.56% to 46.13%.The mean percentages of CD1￣CD5￣,CD2￣CD5￣and CD4￣CD8￣thymocytes were 43.63%,60.20% and 67.38% after FK506 treatment,respectively,while 6.01%,2.02% and 28.78% in the controls.Besides the decrease of CD1+CD5+ and CD2+CD5+subsets,a significant decrease of CD4+CD8+phenotypes could be detected in the FK506 group.Conclusion FK506 treatment might lead to inhibition of maturation and differentiation of porcine thymic pregenitots from CD4￣CD8￣(double-negative)to CD4+CD8+(double positive)in thymus.