Homogeneous rate of PTK7+ T cell maturation.

<p>(<b>A–B</b>) Decline in PTK7<b>⁺</b> naive CD4<b>⁺</b> T cells post-thymectomy predicted by a range of density-dependent functions and clinical observations made by Haines et al. <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0049554#pone.0049554-Haines1" target="_blank">[5]</a>. (<b>C</b>) Age-related change in PTK7+ T cells with age predicted by the same family of density-dependent maturation functions combined with independent estimates of thymic export <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0049554#pone.0049554-Bains2" target="_blank">[26]</a>. Filled circles are experimental observations from Haines et al. <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0049554#pone.0049554-Haines1" target="_blank">[5]</a>. Grey region: a family of functions defined by <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0049554#pone.0049554.e040" target="_blank">equation (9</a>) (where ) that encompasses observation in thymectomised individuals aged 2 and 14 years.