Immunohistological analysis of immigration of thymocyte-precursors into the thymus: evidence for immigration of peripheral T cells into the thymic medulla.

The immigration route of thymocyte precursors into the thymic microenvironment was examined in various experiments using two strains of mice (B10.Thy-1.1 and C57BL/6) that were identical in H-2 and different in Thy-1 locus. The experiment of thymus grafting revealed that there were two types of thymocyte precursors; one immigrated into the cortex and vigorously proliferated and the other directly immigrated into the medulla. Such a direct immigration of host-type cells into the medulla of the grafted thymus was not observed, when thymus was grafted into young adult nude mice having no T cells. When bone marrow cells were iv injected into intact mice, the direct immigration of donor-type cells was observed only in the cortex, not in the medulla. In parabiotic mice, the immigration of partner's cells into the medulla was observed independently before the proliferation of partner's cell in the cortex. These findings taken together indicate that peripheral T cells directly immigrate into and recirculate through the thymic medulla.