1. Intercellular junctions in the developing mammalian thymus
- Author
-
Bettina H. Harrison
- Subjects
Fetus ,Pathology ,medicine.medical_specialty ,General Veterinary ,Gestational Age ,General Medicine ,Thymus Gland ,Biology ,Cell junction ,Embryonic stem cell ,Mice ,Intercellular Junctions ,Pregnancy ,Precursor cell ,medicine ,Gestation ,Animals ,Female ,Lymphopoiesis ,Rabbits - Abstract
Lymphopoiesis in fetal thymuses of mice and rabbits was studied to try to correlate heterogeneity of lymphocytes with heterogeneity of embryonic origin. The thymuses of fetal mice of 11 to 14 days gestation and of fetal rabbits of 18 and 19 days gestation were examined by electron microscopy. At the time of earliest appearance of lymphoid cells in both species desmosomes were seen on both epithelial and lymphoid cells. These desmosomes persisted for several days, then disappeared from completely differentiated lymphocytes in both species. The similarity between epithelial and lymphoid cells in their earliest developmental stages suggests a common precursor cell for both.
- Published
- 1977