ABILITY OF THYMIC LYMPHOCYTES TO ALTER CFU KINETICS IN RADIATION CHIMERAS

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Abstract
It is known that the poor colony-forming ability of B6 [mouse] bone marrow transplanted into B6D2F1 hybrids can be improved if B6 lymphocytes are also given. It was recently reported that the augmenting lymphocytes decrease the doubling time of differentiating hemopoietic cells. To determine whether thymus cells alter the self-renewal of CFU [colony-forming units] in this parent .fwdarw. F1 combination, retransplantation and 3H-thymidine suicide were employed as methods to determine the cell-division rate. In the presence of thymocytes, parental bone marrow cells are seeded more efficiently in the spleen, and the lag phase of the CFU growth curve is shortened. Thymic lymphocytes do not increase the slope of the exponential growth phase of CFU.