RGD Reference Report - Low-density cells isolated from the rat thymus resemble branched cortical macrophages and have a reduced capability of rescuing double-positive thymocytes from apoptosis in the BB-DP rat. - Rat Genome Database

Send us a Message
Submit Data |  Help |  Video Tutorials |  News |  Publications |  Download |  REST API |  Citing RGD |  Contact   
Search RGD Grant Resources Citing RGD About Us Contact Us
Genes Variants Community Projects QTLs Strains Markers Genome Information Ontologies Cell Lines References Download Submit Data
OntoMate (Literature Search) JBrowse (Genome Browser) Synteny Browser (VCMap) Variant Visualizer Multi-Ontology Enrichment (MOET) Gene-Ortholog Location Finder (GOLF) InterViewer (Protein-Protein Interactions) PhenoMiner (Quatitative Phenotypes) Gene Annotator OLGA (Gene List Generator) AllianceMine GViewer (Genome Viewer)
Aging & Age-Related Disease Cancer & Neoplastic Disease Cardiovascular Disease Coronavirus Disease Developmental Disease Diabetes Hematologic Disease Immune & Inflammatory Disease Infectious Disease Liver Disease Neurological Disease Obesity & Metabolic Syndrome Renal Disease Respiratory Disease Sensory Organ Disease
Find Models   new Genetic Models Autism Models Rat PhenoMiner (Quantitative Phenotypes) Chinchilla PhenoMiner Expected Ranges (Quantitative Phenotype) PhenoMiner Term Comparison Hybrid Rat Diversity Panel Phenotypes Phenotypes in Other Animal Models Animal Husbandry Strain Medical Records Phylogenetics Strain Availability Calendar Rats 101 Submissions Photo Archive
Pathways
Rat Community Forum Directory of Rat Laboratories Video Tutorials News RGD Publications RGD Presentations Archive Nomenclature Guidelines Resource Links Laboratory Resources Employment Resources

Low-density cells isolated from the rat thymus resemble branched cortical macrophages and have a reduced capability of rescuing double-positive thymocytes from apoptosis in the BB-DP rat.

Authors: Sommandas, V  Rutledge, EA  Van Yserloo, B  Fuller, J  Lernmark, A  Drexhage, HA 
Citation: Sommandas V, etal., J Leukoc Biol. 2007 Oct;82(4):869-76. Epub 2007 Jun 28.
RGD ID: 2303770
Pubmed: PMID:17599904   (View Abstract at PubMed)
DOI: DOI:10.1189/jlb.0407213   (Journal Full-text)

Biobreeding-diabetes prone (BB-DP) rats spontaneously develop organ-specific autoimmunity and are severely lymphopenic and particularly deficient in ART2(+) regulatory T cells. A special breed, the so-called BB-diabetic-resistant (DR) rats, are not lymphopenic and do not develop organ-specific autoimmunity. The genetic difference between both strains is the lymphopenia (lyp) gene. Intrathymic tolerance mechanisms are important to prevent autoimmunity, and next to thymus epithelial cells, thymus APC play a prominent part in this tolerance. We here embarked on a study to detect defects in thymus APC of the BB-DP rat and isolated thymus APC using a protocol based on the low-density and nonadherent character of the cells. We used BB-DP, BB-DR, wild-type F344, and F344 rats congenic for the lyp gene-containing region. The isolated thymus, nonadherent, low-density cells appeared to be predominantly ED2(+) branched cortical macrophages and not OX62(+) thymus medullary and cortico-medullary dendritic cells. Functionally, these ED2(+) macrophages were excellent stimulators of T cell proliferation, but it is more important that they rescued double-positive thymocytes from apoptosis. The isolated thymus ED2(+) macrophages of the BB-DP and the F344.lyp/lyp rat exhibited a reduced T cell stimulatory capacity as compared with such cells of nonlymphopenic rats. They had a strongly diminished capability of rescuing thymocytes from apoptosis (also of ART2(+) T cells) and showed a reduced Ian5 expression (as lyp/lyp thymocytes do). Our experiments strongly suggest that branched cortical macrophages play a role in positive selection of T cells in the thymus and point to defects in these cells in BB-DP rats.

Gene Ontology Annotations    Click to see Annotation Detail View

Biological Process
TermQualifierEvidenceWithReferenceNotesSourceOriginal Reference(s)
negative regulation of apoptotic process  IMP 2303770 RGD 

Objects Annotated

Genes (Rattus norvegicus)
Gimap5  (GTPase, IMAP family member 5)


Additional Information