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F Lepault

Publications and source records attributed to F Lepault.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
PubMed1994

Strain-dependent migration of CD4 and CD8 lymphocyte subsets to lymph nodes in NOD (nonobese diabetic) and control mice.

Subpopulations of lymphoid cells were compared with respect to their ability to migrate into peripheral lymphoid organs of nonobese diabetic (NOD) mice and various strains of control mice. In short-term, in vivo homing studies, no major differences in the pattern of homing of B and T cells were observed among all mouse strains studied. On the other hand, CD4 cells localized consistently more efficiently than CD8 cells in both PP and LN of adult NOD and BALB/c mice, whereas both populations migrated roughly equivalently in LN of adult DBA/2, CBA, and C57BL/6 mice. No age-dependent differences in the homing of CD4 and CD8 cells were observed in BALB/c mice. On the contrary, in 2-week-old NOD mice, CD4 and CD8 cells migrated equally well. The preferential entry of CD4 cells in adult NOD and BALB/c did not result from increased blood transit time of CD8 cells. On the other hand, the preferential migration of CD8 cells was observed in the liver, whereas the two T-cell subsets migrated equally well in the lungs. The differences in the homing characteristics of CD4 and CD8 cells among NOD, BALB/c, and C57BL/6 mice were not related to modifications in the level of expression of adhesion molecules such as MEL-14, LFA-1, and Pgp-1.

Age Factors↗
PubMed1993

T- and B-lymphocyte differentiation potentials of spleen colony-forming cells.

Cells that generate splenic colonies within 8 days (day-8 colony-forming units-spleen [CFU-s]) are generally thought to differentiate only into erythroid/myeloid cells. The T and B lymphocyte differentiation potentials of day-8 CFU-s were evaluated and compared with those of day-12 and 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) CFU-s. This was achieved by analyzing, after intravenous and intrathymic injection, the lymphocyte progeny of cells contained within individual splenic colonies collected at day 8 and day 12 post-bone marrow cell transfer into irradiated congenic recipients. A large majority of day-8 spleen colonies generated T cells when transferred intrathymically. After intravenous (IV) injection of day-8 colonies, donor-type thymocytes emerged in 33% of the animals reconstituted with only 1 day-8 colony, but in 83% of those inoculated with a pool of 5 colonies. All post-5-FU and 75% of day-12 colonies gave rise to thymocytes after IV injection. B cells were generated by a high proportion of day-8 colonies, and by all day-12 and post 5-FU colonies. These results demonstrate that progenitors of T and B lymphocytes are generated within spleen colonies produced by at least some day-8 CFU-s and virtually all day-12 CFU-s. Whether these progenitors are CFU-s themselves or committed precursors remains an open question.

Animals↗
PubMed1993

Lymph node T-cells do not optimally transfer diabetes in NOD mice.

The nonobese diabetic mouse in a model of spontaneous development of autoimmune type I diabetes. The disease can be induced in young, irradiated recipients by injecting splenic T-cells from diabetic donors. The adoptive transfer of diabetes requires the presence of both CD4+ and CD8+ splenic T-cell subsets. To test whether diabetogenic cells distribute in other lymphoid organs of diabetic mice, we first analyzed lymph node cells. Lymph node cells were much less efficient in transferring diabetes than splenocytes. This inefficacious transfer was not attributable to the absence of hematopoietic precursors or a lack of macrophages. Lymph node cells did not protect from the transfer of diabetes by splenocytes, indicating the absence of suppressor cells. Although CD8+ lymph node T-cells seemed functionally comparable to CD8+ splenocytes, CD4+ lymph node T-cells failed to cooperate with CD8+ splenocytes to transfer diabetes. Our study suggests that diabetogenic cells are not evenly distributed in the different lymphoid organs. This may reflect a differential migration pattern of pathogenic T-cells in this animal model.

Animals↗
PubMed1992

Hematopoietic stem cells and myeloid precursor cells in nonobese diabetic (NOD) mice.

Expression of diabetes susceptibility genes at the hemopoietic stem cell level is sufficient for the development of the disease in nonobese diabetic (NOD) mice. This work investigated whether the defects that reside within the stem cells have consequences on the homeostasis of the stem and progenitor cell compartments. The fraction of cyclically active stem cells, or spleen colony-forming units (CFU-s), is enlarged, and their differentiation toward megakaryocytopoiesis seems to be enhanced in NOD mice at 3 and 10 weeks of age as compared to C57BL/6 mice. Whereas colony-forming unit assay (CFU-A) numbers are normal in the bone marrow, they are significantly increased in the spleen of NOD mice. A strain-dependent difference in granulocyte-macrophage colony-forming cell (GM-CFC) numbers was observed; they were higher in NOD mice than in B6 mice of three and ten weeks of age. These results suggest that autoimmune type 1 diabetes mellitus of the NOD mouse is accompanied by disorders of myelopoiesis and megakaryopoiesis. This observation is in keeping with the role of macrophages in the development of diabetes and with the hyperactivity of diabetic platelets.

Animals↗
PubMed1991

Persistence of stem cell activity within the murine thymus after transfer of a bone marrow fraction enriched in CFU-S.

Mechanisms involved in prothymocyte migration, differentiation and self-commitment were investigated. We used a murine bone marrow fraction isolated on a discontinuous Ficoll gradient and enriched 10-20 times in CFU-S activity, and studied its fate after intrathymic transfer over a period of 200 days. In order to assess their hemopoietic activity, chimeric thymuses were intravenously transferred to secondary lethally irradiated hosts and both day 8 and day 12 spleen colonies were evaluated. The results show that transfer of a stem cell enriched fraction leads to long-term repopulation of the thymuses and that the input of progenitors is regulated by the size of the intrathymic precursor pool. Furthermore, stem cells can locate within the irradiated thymus and remain in a primitive stage for several months.

Animals↗
PubMed1991

Studies on the thymus in Chagas' disease. II. Thymocyte subset fluctuations in Trypanosoma cruzi-infected mice: relationship to stress.

Changes in thymic T-cell subsets in mice acutely infected with Trypanosoma cruzi have been studied in both C3H/HeJ and C57BL/6 mice. The significant decrease in thymocyte number, observed in both mouse strains on day 14 post-infection correlated with a drastic decrease in CD4+CD8+ cell number, whereas the number of CD4-CD8-, CD4+CD8- and CD4-CD8+ cells remained essentially unchanged. The important increase in CD3hi cell frequency confirmed that resistant thymocytes during Chagas' disease development were mostly medullary thymocytes, whereas the thymic cortex was largely depleted, as previously observed on thymus sections. This involution of the thymus could have been due to the increase of circulating glucocorticoid levels observed after infection. However, similar cell modifications were found in infected adrenalectomized mice whose serum corticosterone levels were only slightly augmented. Thus, the thymic alterations appear not to be linked to stress responses, at least those dependent on high levels of circulating glucocorticoids.

Animals↗
PubMed1991

Influence of castration, alone or combined with thymectomy, on the development of diabetes in the nonobese diabetic mouse.

The nonobese diabetic (NOD) mouse is a recognized model for studying immunologically-mediated insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus. The disease appears with a greater preponderance in females than in males. Castration at weaning led to a significant increase in the prevalence of diabetes in NOD males, whereas a tendency to a decreased prevalence was observed in NOD females. Castration combined with thymectomy was found to further increase the prevalence of diabetes in NOD males, whereas in females castration reversed the effect of thymectomy. These results on changes in diabetes prevalence were corroborated by the degree of lymphocytic infiltration directed toward the pancreatic islets of Langerhans. Taken together these results indicate a direct relationship between the endocrine and immune systems, whereby orchidectomy has a deleterious effect on the immunopathogenesis of diabetes. In addition, we examined whether the distribution of lymphocyte subpopulations, mitogen reactivity, lymphokine production, and in vivo response to a thymus-dependent antigen, such as sheer red blood cell, were dependent or independent of the sex steroid environment.

Animals↗
PubMed1990

A one step cell sorting procedure for the enrichment of murine bone marrow CFU-S which is independent of their proliferative activity.

Murine bone marrow day 9 splenic colony-forming units (CFU-S) have been concentrated using a one step cell sorting technique. CFU-S were discriminated on the basis of their rather high forward light scatter intensity, their high affinity for the lectin WGA and the absence of a cell surface marker expressed by the majority of hematopoietic cells and recognized by the RA3-5B3 MoAb. This procedure permitted a 40-fold enrichment of quiescent or cycling CFU-S (obtained from normal and Ara-C-treated mice respectively) and did not alter their differentiation pathways towards the various myeloid lineages.

Animals↗
PubMed1990

Influence of iron-deficiency anemia on selected thymus functions in mice: thymulin biological activity, T-cell subsets, and thymocyte proliferation.

To define the effects of iron deficiency on thymulin biological activity, T-cell subsets, and thymocyte proliferation, C57BL/6 female mice at weaning were fed an iron-deficient diet (10 mg Fe/kg diet), an iron-sufficient diet (50 mg Fe/kg diet), or restricted amounts of the iron-sufficient diet (the pair-fed group) for 40 d. Iron deficiency did not reduce the concentration of either serum or intracytoplasmic thymulin. Although T-cell subsets in the thymus were not altered, both the cortical and medullar regions were depleted of thymocytes. In the spleen iron deficiency (but not underfeeding) significantly reduced the percentage of L3T4+ cells, of Lyt-2+ cells, and thus of the overall T-cell population. However, it did not affect the ratio of L3T4+ to Lyt-2+ T cells. Thymocyte proliferation was significantly reduced at the concanavalin A (Con A) dose (10 mg/L) that produced maximal stimulation in control and pair-fed mice but not at low (7.5 mg/L) or high (15 mg/L) Con A concentrations. We conclude that the impairment in immune functions associated with iron deficiency is not due to an impairment in thymic endocrine function but rather to decreased immunocompetent lymphocytes.

Anemia, Hypochromic↗
PubMed1989

The majority of mouse spontaneous rosette-forming cells of thymic origin belong to the Ly-2+ subset.

Spontaneous sheep erythrocyte rosette-forming T cells (T-sRFC) found in normal mouse spleen are specific for the xenogeneic species of red cells and are distinct from human E rosettes as illustrated by their persistence after sheep red blood cell (SRBC) incubation with anti-LFA-3 monoclonal antibodies directed against SRBC molecule binding to the E rosette receptor. We confirm here using monoclonal antibodies that T-sRFC are Thy-1+CD3+. Additionally, using cell separation techniques based on panning and cell sorting, it is shown that the vast majority of spleen sRFC have the L3T4-Ly-2+ phenotype. As already shown for anti-Thy-1 antibodies, anti-CD3 and anti-Ly-2 antibodies block rosette formation, whereas antibodies to more abundant cell surface antigens (T200, H-2Db) are not inhibitory. These data suggest that the interaction of T-sRFC with SRBC occurs at or near the T cell receptor.

Animals↗
PubMed1989

Acceleration of the onset of diabetes in NOD mice by thymectomy at weaning.

The effect of thymectomy performed at weaning (3 weeks) and at 6-7 weeks of age on the incidence of diabetes was examined in the non-Obese diabetic (NOD) mouse, a spontaneous model of immunologically mediated insulin-dependent diabetes similar to human type I diabetes. When performed at weaning, thymectomy led to a dramatic increase in the incidence of diabetes in NOD females in comparison to sham-thymectomized animals. Conversely, no change in the incidence of the disease or the expression of insulitis was noted when thymectomy was performed in NOD males. When delayed beyond 6-7 weeks of age, thymectomy had no effect on NOD males and females. Flow cytometry analysis of spleen cells from intact mice and mice thymectomized at weaning or at 6-7 weeks of age demonstrated a significant depletion of the T cell subsets in both groups of thymectomized animals. These results indicate that the onset of diabetes in NOD mice is submitted to thymic regulation and that the T cell depletion induced by thymectomy at weaning accelerates the disease, an effect possibly due to the loss of some T cell-dependent suppressor mechanisms.

Age Factors↗
PubMed1988

Synergistic effect of colony-stimulating factors and IL-2 on prothymocyte proliferation linked to the maturation of macrophage/dendritic cells within L3T4-Lyt-2-Ia-Mac- cells.

Bone marrow-derived precursors colonize the thymus, where they constitute the minor L3T4-Lyt2- subset which can give rise to all thymocyte subpopulations. We show in the present paper that L3T4-Lyt2- population depleted of Ia+, Mac-1+ cells contain pluripotent hemopoietic stem cells (CFU-S) and granulocyte-macrophage colony-forming cells (GM-CFC). Addition of GM-CSF to the culture medium leads to the production of adherent and nonadherent cells of the macrophage-monocyte lineage. L3T4-Lyt2- cells poorly respond to IL-2 in vitro, but the addition of either rIL-3 or rGM-CSF allows the IL-2 response of L3T4-Lyt2- cells. This response is at least partly mediated by maturation of double-negative cells for L3T4 and Lyt-2 Ag into cells able to produce IL-1.

Animals↗
PubMed1988

Thymic dependency of the humoral regulation of CFU-s proliferation in mice bearing a CSF-producing tumor.

A better understanding of the mechanisms involved in the proliferation of splenic colony-forming units (CFU-s) during tumor growth is important for the prevention of bone marrow aplasia during chemotherapy. The in vivo growth of EMT6 cells, a colony-stimulating factor-secreting mammary tumor, in BALB/c and nude mice resulted in splenomegaly and an increase in the number of splenic granulocyte/macrophage colony-forming cells (GM-CFC). Proliferation of CFU-s, observed in BALB/c mice but not in nude mice, most likely resulted from combined direct and indirect actions of factors secreted by tumor and host cells (in particular helper T cells). These factors were detectable in the serum immediately following tumor cell injection. Thus, the GM-CFC response to factors secreted by the EMT6 tumors is thymus-independent while the CFU-s response is dependent upon the presence of T cells. Finally, we show that EMT6 tumor growth had no effect on the determination of CFU-s differentiation toward the various myeloid cell lineages.

Animals↗
PubMed1987

Histamine-producing cell-stimulating activity. Interleukin 3 and granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor induce de novo synthesis of histidine decarboxylase in hemopoietic progenitor cells.

Both interleukin 3 (IL-3) and granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF) induce increased histamine production by murine hemopoietic cells. Histidine-free culture conditions or addition of alpha-fluoromethylhistidine, an irreversible inhibitor of histidine decarboxylase, completely abrogate this phenomenon, indicating that increased histamine levels result from an augmentation of the rate of its synthesis. L-Histidine decarboxylase (HDC) (EC 4.1.1.22) activity is detected in normal bone marrow cell lysates. It is markedly increased following incubation of the cells with IL-3 or GM-CSF. The cells responding by the most important enhancement of HDC activity are located in the less dense layers of a discontinuous Ficoll gradient containing the majority of the hemopoietic progenitor cell types, such as colony-forming units (spleen), granulocyte-macrophage colony-forming cells, and mast cell precursors. In comparison with other HDC-containing cell populations tested, the enzymatic activity contained in these cells is particularly high after IL-3 or GM-CSF treatment and similar to the HDC levels observed in murine fetal liver. The time course of IL-3 and GM-CSF-induced HDC activation at comparable concentrations is slightly different. In response to GM-CSF, HDC activation is more rapid, with a significant enhancement after 4 hr of incubation, as compared with IL-3-induced HDC activation. Moreover, in the latter case the activation increases more progressively up to 48 hr of incubation, whereas GM-CSF-induced increase of HDC activity reaches a plateau more rapidly. In addition, maximal increase in histamine production in response to IL-3 is always higher than in response to GM-CSF. Moreover, the simultaneous presence of both factors at optimal concentration induces only a partially cumulative effect. These results suggest that IL-3 and GM-CSF induce HDC activation in two distinct ways, possibly reflecting the involvement of distinct target cells. However, both mediators act by inducing the transcription of the HDC gene and de novo synthesis of this enzyme since actinomycin D or cycloheximide abolish GM-CSF-or IL-3-induced histamine-producing cell-stimulating activity. This synthesis is independent from cell proliferation as demonstrated by the lack of effect of bone marrow cell irradiation. Finally, the observation that cholera toxin, prostaglandin E2, and N6,2'-O-dibutyryl adenosine 3',5'-cyclic monophosphate mimic the effects of IL-3 and GM-CSF on bone marrow cell HDC suggests an involvement of cyclic adenosine monophosphate in factor-induced histamine-producing cell-stimulating activity.

Animals↗
PubMed1983

Characteristics of thymus-homing bone marrow cells.

Using a short-term in vivo assay, we studied bone marrow cells capable of homing to the thymus of lethally irradiated recipients. In the bone marrow, these cells lack the T cell markers Thy-1 and Lyt. Soon after their homing into the thymus, however, the immigrants begin to express Thy-1 and Lyt antigens, but not TL antigen. Unexpectedly, Lyt antigens appear to be expressed before Thy-1. These thymus-homing bone marrow cells seem to be already separated from the B cell lineage. Most of the homing cells are engaged in the cell cycle.

Animals↗
PubMed1982

Involvement of T-lymphocytes in the stimulatory effects of EMT6 tumors on medullary pluripotent stem cells of BALB/c mice.

Untreated EMT6 tumors and bone marrow of tumor-bearing BALB/c mice secrete factors capable of stimulating quiescent medullary splenic colony-forming units into cycle. Since the tumor population is heterogeneous, it is of interest to determine the nature of the cells which are involved in this phenomenon. Experiments with conditioned media from tumors of BALB/c and athymic mice show that EMT6 cells themselves may secrete a stimulating factor but that the presence of T-lymphocytes is necessary at some time in the development of the tumor. Likewise, the presence of the tumor is necessary for bone marrow to secrete these factors in our experimental model. This suggests reciprocal influences of the T-cells and the EMT6 tumor cells in the phenomena that we describe.

Animals↗