Analysis of electrophoretic mobility histogram of mouse thymocytes during tumour development.

The population of medullary thymocytes without peanut agglutinin (PNA) receptor consisted of two groups: Lyt-1+ .2- cells with a high mobility of 1.0 micrometer/sec/V/cm, and Lyt-1+ .2+ cells with a low mobility of 0.7 micrometer/sec/V/cm. Also used were cortical thymocytes with PNA receptor: these were Lyt-1+ .2+ cells, having low mobility. In C3H/He mice bearing plasmacytoma X5563, a low mobility peak appeared in the histograms of peripheral lymphocytes. In contrast, a high mobility peak appeared in the histograms of thymocytes. Using full automated analytical instrumentation, it was determined that the appearance of high mobility cells during tumour growth strongly correlated with the decreased proportion of low mobility cells in thymus.