Comparison of lymphopenia-induced proliferation of pre-RTEs and naïve T cells.

<p>Purified SP4 thymocytes, and CD4⁺ naïve T cells from lymph nodes of C57BL/6 mice were labeled with CFSE and adoptively transferred into sub-lethally irradiated (600 rads) adult C57BL/6 mice (A and B) or unirradiated 9-day old C57BL/6 mice (C). Donor T cells from lymph nodes (LN) of the hosts were analyzed for CD44 expression and CFSE dilution (proliferation) 4 days (irradiated mice) and 14 days (unirradiated young mice) later. The numbers in the plot display the percentage of cells diluted CFSE (A) or CD44^hi (upper) and CD44^lo (lower) cells that diluted CFSE (B-D). The experiments were repeated for 3 times.